Here We Go Again
by Hotaruu-chan
Summary: Bartimaeus hasn't been summoned for at least 30 years because everyone thinks he is dead. But then a commoner named Vivian Gray summons him so that he can help her find her missing brother. More interesting than it sounds. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1 Bartimaeus

This is the first time I've written a fanfic so any advice is appreciated. Anyway, enjoy the story. Hopefully I'll be able to add the next chapter in few days.

--

I was a little surprised to feel a tug on my essence (1). The magician didn't seem all that powerful, so I choose one of my more terrifying forms (2). I felt some satisfaction when the summoner uttered something that sounded like a cross between a gasp and a scream (3). I looked around the room, expecting to see the usual accessories that magicians couldn't seem to live without (4). I was a little surprised to find myself in a tiny room with a tiny little bed shoved into a corner, an equally small dresser, and a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl in a simple white shirt and trousers whose brown eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head. She was definitely not a magician (5).

"Um, excuse me," she squeaked. "Are you the djinni called Bartimaeus?"

"Who else would I be? I'm certainly not an imp." I growled.

The girl's eyes grew wider (6). "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to call you an imp, Mr. Bartimaeus!" she said hurriedly. "You don't look anything like an imp, Mr. Bartimaeus. Your defiantly a powerful and magnificent djinni. A mere imp could never take such a unique form! I've never seen a three-eyed minotaur before, Mr. Bartimaeus."(7)

"Uh, okay. So why did you summon me?"

"Oh, right. I was hoping you could help me find out what happened to my brother. He just disappeared two months ago. I think the magicians have something to do with it," she said.

"Your not a magician?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.

"No."

"Then how did you summon me?" (8)

"My parents hired a tutor," she answered.

"Tutor?" I suddenly became aware of how unnecessary my current form was. The girl was shaking a little, but that may have been because the room was drafty. She didn't seem to be afraid anymore. I became Ptolemy. "How long has it been since John Mandrake died?"

"John Mandrake? I think it's been about 34 or 35 years."

"And commoners can learn how to summon a djinni?"

"Yes, but they need a permit. And my brother was the first to try and summon anything stronger than a foliot. The magicians went into a panic when they found out about the afrit."

Afrit? That was impressive, especially for a commoner. "Well, there's your answer. The magicians got scared and decided to eliminate him. They don't like people who are stronger than they are. Now that I've helped you solve this mystery, can I go?"

"But he might still be alive! I need you to help me find him!"

"If he is, then he's in the Tower. I don't find the idea of getting chased by a couple of afrits appealing. Summon some other djinni who feels like dying."

"So you won't help me?"

"Nope." I wondered why she didn't just_ order_ me to help her. She was actually giving me a choice.

"I suppose I'll have to summon someone else then," she said quietly. "Goodbye, Mr. Bartimaeus."

I wasn't sure if she was serious until I found myself back in the Other Place. I'd never met anyone like her (9). She was interesting, and I wouldn't have minded having a conversation with her. Oh well, at least I'd been allowed to return without having to run some errand.

**1.And a little irritated. I'd been hoping that it would be at least a century until some magician suspected that I was still alive and tried to summon me. Oh well.**

**2.And added a third eye which glowed blood-red simply because I felt like it.**

**3.Sadly, they didn't make the mistake of stepping out of their pentacle.**

**4.Unnecessarily large beds with silk sheets, huge closets with hundreds of expensive shoes and suits, shiny desks the size of mammoths, and of course, a lot of spell books.**

**5.I couldn't have been gone that long, could I? No magician would allow themselves to live in these conditions. I could have sworn I saw a rat scurry across the floor.**

**6.If that were possible.**

**7.Her little speech and the "Mr. Bartimaeus" thing surprised me so much that I forgot to swell with pride. I also forgot to point out that no one had seen a three-eyed minotaur before. No one that I had ever met anyway.**

**8.After Kitty Jones had summoned me, I'd learned that commoners could summon a djinni. What I was wondering was where she had learned to draw pentacles and recite the proper incantation.**

**9.Other than Ptolemy. She reminded me of him a little.**


	2. Chapter 2 Vivian

I finished this one a little quicker than I expected. I hope it's not too boring.

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, other than the ones I created.**

--

As soon as the djinni was gone, Vivian fell to her knees inside the pentacle. "Amadahy." A large brown rat appeared in her lap.

"Are you okay, Ms. Gray?" the djinni asked.

"Yes, just tired. Could you get me some tea?"

"Of course. Stay right here. I'll be back in a few minutes." The rat became a Native American girl with long, white hair and quickly left the room. Vivian forced herself to stand and stumbled to her bed. What was she supposed to do now? The letter that she had received from her brother a few days before had clearly told her to summon the djinni known as Bartimaeus. It said that he was the only one who could take the small box that had come with the letter to a lady named Kathleen Jones.

At first, Vivian had charged Amadahy with delivering the box. When the djinni arrived at Ms. Jones' house, she had encountered a strong shield that prevented her from approaching the house. A few days later she had sent Amadahy back to try agin. This time she was attacked by an afrit. Vivian had finally decided to risk summoning Bartimaeus. She had never summoned something so powerful before. She wondered how her brother could handle afrits when her encounter with a djinni only slightly stronger than Amadahy had almost caused her to step out of her pentacle.

Vivian suddenly realized that Amadahy had returned. The djinni was staring at her with a concerned expression on her face. She handed her master the cup of tea, which Vivian gulped down in less than a minute. "Will you try to summon him again, Ms. Gray?" the djinni asked.

"What's the point? It's not like he's going to change his mind."

"Perhaps if you ordered him to obey you." The girl became a rat once more and perched on Vivian's head. "You know you can. Once you summon him, he has to do anything you tell him."

Vivian picked up the rat and held it in front of her. "I don't like to treat djinn like slaves."

"Perhaps he would take you more seriously if you didn't act so intimidated."

"That wasn't an act."

"Oh."

The two fell silent. The smell of incense drifted in Vivian's direction, making her feel lightheaded. She found herself wishing that there was a window in her room. Than one scent in particular reached her. Rosemary.

She stood up suddenly and lifted up a trapdoor that lay concealed by a rug next to her bed. She dropped into the kitchen below, grabbed her jacket, and headed for the door. "Are you going out, Ms. Gray?" the rat asked.

"Yes. I need to get some fresh air. Could you air out my room?"

"I could if you would please release me."

Vivian realized that she was still holding the rat. She quickly apologized and gently placed it down on the floor, where it became the Native American girl again. "Enjoy your walk, Ms. Gray."

Vivian decided to walk along the Thames. Although the filthy water smelled terrible today, it was better than the smell of rosemary. It wasn't that the herb smelled bad, it just brought back memories that she would have preferred to forget. For this reason, she had only summoned four spirits in her entire life, although she was quite skilled.

The first had been a foliot who would always appear before her in the form of a giant, green slug that would interupt her every few seconds by burping. The second had been a low-level djinni whose expressionless stare made her fidget so much that she had nearly smudged the pentacle lines twice in the first four minutes. For the next five years the closest she had come to summoning was helping her brother draw pentacles and buying herbs and candles. Than, one night, she ventured into her brother's study and came across a book that listed the names, accomplishments, and previous owners of over a hundred djinn, afrits, and marids. It was in this book that she first learned of the djinni known as Amadahy.


	3. Chapter 3 Vivian

Here's the next chapter. I'll try to add a bit of action in the next one.

Disclaimer:None of the characters are mine, only the ones I made up.

--

Vivian waited until she could hear her brother snoring downstairs before she began to prepare the incense and light the candles. Then she stepped into her pentacle and summoned the djinni. At first, nothing seemed to happen. But then fog began to gather in the second pentacle. A gentle but ancient voice echoed through the room. "What is your will?"

"M-my will? Uh . . . C-could you please take another form?" Vivian's voice shook slightly as she spoke the first words that came to mind. "T-talking to mist is a little . . . strange."

The voice laughed softly. "Of course." The fog began to vanish and a beautiful Native American girl with white hair emerged. "Is this form more suitable?"

"Yes. Thank you. So you're Amadahy, Wolf Mother of the Great River?"

"Yes."

"Great." Vivian wasn't really sure about what she should say. She had summoned the djinni simply because she had taken an interest in it.

"Now did you want me to help you with something, or did you just want to talk?"

"I don't really need any help."

"Then how about a chat? It has been at least a century since I had a decent conversation with a human." The djinni sat down on a chair that had appeared in the pentacle.

Vivian, who didn't posses the ability to make things appear out of thin air, stayed standing up. "So . . . why are you called Wolf Mother of the Great River?"

"Because my preferred form back in North America was that of a giant wolf. The 'Great River' part was probably added on because I was mostly summoned by the tribes that lived near the Mississippi River."

"'Mississippi' means 'Great River', right?" She vaguely remembered her teacher mentioning it.

The djinni smiled in response. Vivian found herself smiling back, and suddenly she wasn't so nervous anymore. She asked Amadahy to describe the Native Americans and talk about previous masters and old battles for hours, until her brother came to check on her.

Nick's face quickly became an interesting shade of purple when his eyes fell on the Native American who had materialized in his attic. He slowly pushed himself up through the trapdoor and approached Vivian. "A demon." His voice was calm but strained.

"A djinni," Vivian corrected. "Her name is Amadahy."

"Is it?"

Vivian nodded. "Her stories are very interesting."

"Are they?"

Vivian nodded again. Two-word sentences were a bad sign. They meant that her brother was struggling not to shout. He always did his best to stay calm around her, no matter what she did. Vivian had only heard him shout once in her life: When she had accidently spilled boiling olive oil in his lap one morning. He had never let her make breakfast again.

"Excuse me," Amadahy suddenly spoke up. "Perhaps we should continue this conversation another day."

"Of course." Vivian said a quick goodbye and dismissed the djinni. Then, reluctantly, she turned back to her brother.

"What were you thinking?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice down. "You do realize that one mistake could have cost you your life, don't you?"

"Amadahy wasn't much stronger than the last djinni I summoned, and that one was barely stronger than a foliot."

"Even a weak djinn can harm you," he said. "If you had put just one finger out of that pentacle, it would have incinerated you before you realized what you'd done."

"She would not!" Vivian argued. "Amadahy is very friendly."

"That was just an act, you little fool! Don't summon it again. I don't feel like arranging a funeral right now." And with that, Nick disappeared through the trapdoor.

"I'll summon whichever spirit I want to," Vivian muttered to herself.

Vivian continued to summon the djinni. Although her brother complained, he didn't actually try to stop her. One morning, when he found Amadahy in the kitchen preparing breakfast, he didn't say a word. But he refused to eat anything for several days until he became so hungry that he couldn't resist the smell of bacon. The food was so good that he asked Amadahy to be the official cook of the house. She accepted the offer. Later, she was promoted to official housekeeper.

Vivian began taking the djinni with her when she went shopping. She even took it to school until her teacher, a short man with a pig-like nose, noticed a suspicious improvement in her grades. The day before an important test he asked Vivian to leave the djinni at home. He even called Nick and asked him to make sure she didn't sneak it into class in the form of some insect.

Vivian was forced to dismiss the djinni. She failed the test.

When she got home that day, she immediately disappeared into the attic and summoned Amadahy. The djinni patiently listened to the girl complain and insult her teacher for at least ten minutes until Nick's voice interrupted her.

"Viv! Get down here."

The curse that burst from the girl's mouth made Amadahy's essence shiver. Luckily, she said it in Cherokee, so even if her brother had heard it, he wouldn't have understood. It had something to do with disemboweling someone and nailing their intestines to a tree.

Without thinking, Vivian stepped out of her pentacle. The temperature in the room dropped suddenly and fog rose up from the floor. She froze. This was it. She had made her first, and probably her last, mistake. She should had listened to Nick.

But nothing happened. The fog slowly swirled around her, as if unsure of what to do. Then it just disappeared. Vivian remained frozen for a few seconds before daring to look up. Nothing. The djinni was gone, and she was, remarkably, still alive.

"Vivian!" Nick's second call startled her, and she quickly dropped through the trapdoor. It turned out that her teacher had called again, this time to alert her brother to her cheating. Nick gave Vivian a quick lecture, which she barely listened to. She wondered if she should tell him about what had happened upstairs. No. That would just cause unnecessary trouble. Nothing had happened. Even though most djinn would have destroyed her in an instant, Amadahy had chosen to spare her and return to the Other Place. No harm done.

The next day Vivian summoned the djinni again. Neither mentioned the previous day's incident. Amadahy continued to be a good housekeeper and an even better cook, and Vivian actually learned how to listen in class. Life went on as usual. But since then, some kind of bond had formed between the girl and her djinni.


	4. Chapter 4 Vivian

Okay. I finished chapter 4.

Disclaimer: Not own nothin', except for the characters I created.

--

It wasn't until Vivian reached an old bridge that appeared to be on the verge of collapse, that she realized how late it had gotten. The sun was setting and casting a red glow on the water below. She should probably get home soon.

Just as she was starting to head back, an evil chuckle came from above. Vivian looked up in time to see something with wings diving down towards her head. She jerked back, causing the thing to miss by a few inches and crash into the ground. Vivian backed away as a cloud of dust rose up from the crash site.

"Impressive. Not many humans can dodge my dive." A peregrine falcon staggered into view. The bird's beak had been bent so far back that it was almost touching its forehead. With a sigh, the falcon became a jaguar.

"Who are you?" Vivian asked while taking a step back.

"Necalli."

"Why—?"

"Look, I'd like nothing better than to sit here and chat with you all night, but I really must follow orders." The jaguar crouched down and fixed its golden eyes on her.

At first, Vivian wasn't sure of what she should do. Maybe the djinni was just trying to scare her. But then she noticed the way its muscles were tensing. It was preparing to pounce. Vivian ran.

As she soon discovered, outrunning a jaguar is no easy task. Vivian had barely run five feet when 200 pounds of cat crashed into her back. As soon as she hit the ground, she started thrashing. There was the sound of cloth tearing, a sharp pain in her right shoulder, and the weight on her back vanished.

She quickly stood up and watched the cat pick pieces of her jacket from its claws. "What are you waiting for? Run while I'm still busy," Necalli said. Vivian didn't need anymore encouragement. She turned and ran in the direction of her house.

Something told her the jaguar was stronger than Amadahy. A lot stronger. And there certainly wasn't time to flip through a book, looking for a djinni that could defeat Necalli. She knew her brother had kept plenty of silver knives and silver jewelry in his room, but she doubted she could get close enough to the djinni to harm it.

Vivian's lungs were burning by the time she got home, and her shoulder had gone numb. She was barely aware of the jaguar following close behind. After bursting through the door, which she quickly closed and locked, Vivian made several futile attempts to pull herself up through the trapdoor one-handed. The only reaction she could get out of her right arm was a weak flop.

Native American curses poured from her mouth until Amadahy, still in the form of a Native American, came to see what was wrong. "Ms. Gray! What happened to you?" the djinni ran forward, her eyes fixed on Vivian's injury.

Then she went rigid. Her eyes looked in the direction of the door. "What is that thing doing here?"

"Forget about it. I need you to help me get upstairs. I'm going to summon Bartimaeus."

"He can't help us now," Amadahy said, her voice suddenly cold. The room became a few degrees cooler.

"Amadahy." The djinni didn't respond. "Amadahy!" Vivian tried again, her voice louder this time.

The Native American blinked. "Sorry, Ms. Gray." Amadahy picked her up and leaped through the trapdoor. Vivian sighed with relief when she saw that the pentacles were still there. She quickly examined them to make sure nothing had smudged. Everything was fine.

Then there was an explosion. The whole house shuddered. "Come out, little girl!" Necalli called.

"I can give you about two minutes," Amadahy said. "Probably less."

"What—?" Vivian began, but the djinni was already gone. Reluctantly, she prepared the candles and incense and stepped into her pentacle. She heard more explosions and some snarling. The house shook some more. She began the summoning.

Just as Bartimaeus appeared in the pentacle in the form of a gargoyle, something crashed through the roof. It was some kind of large snake with blue and green feathers. Trapped in its coils was a white wolf.

Necalli chuckled when it saw the gargoyle. "You're so generous! Another meal." Then the snake slowly began to crush the wolf.

Vivian turned to the gargoyle. "Help Amadahy!" she screamed.


	5. Chapter 5 Bartimaeus

Disclaimer: Only the characters I created are mine. The rest aren't.

--

I knew exactly who was summoning me this time. And only a few hours later, too! I wondered if I should try scaring the girl again, but decided against it. The little coward wasn't worth the effort. I could probably scare her in the form of a giant rabbit. All I had to do was add fangs and growl a lot. So I became a gargoyle with a fair amount of moss growing on it.

I was immediately greeted by a block of wood that landed of my head. I looked around angrily and happened to notice a large snake with blue and green feathers. It looked at me and chuckled.(1) "You're so generous!" it said. "Another snack."

The gargoyle's eyes narrowed. Snack? Who did this djinni think he was? I examined the other six planes. Oh. That's who he was.

I turned to the girl. She was staring at the snake with wide eyes. There was some dark liquid dripping off the fingers of her right hand, which hung limply at her side. The gargoyle opened its beak to tell her that it wasn't interested in any jobs.

She suddenly turned to face me. "Help Amadahy!" she screamed. There was a wild look in her eyes.

"Who's—" I stopped when I noticed the small wolf.(2) The snake had its tail wrapped around her, and was slowly crushing her. Spilled essence was pooling underneath her. She wouldn't last much longer. "You mean the wolf?"

"Yes! Now—" I got a bad feeling from the girl's pause. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, the wild look was gone. "Bartimaeus, I charge you to get Amadahy and myself out of this house alive and take us someplace safe, then you _will_ help me find my brother. Now please go."

"You do realize that you're asking me to fight a marid, don't you?"(3)

The girl's eyes widened slightly. " Just get us out of here."

"And what if I don't want to obey?"

Doubt flickered across her face, but it only lasted for a moment. "Please go." Her voice sounded strained.

I felt my stomach twitch. "I don't want to."

The wolf suddenly opened its mouth and uttered a shriek that was very un-wolflike. The wild look returned to the girl's eyes. "Go!"

For a moment I thought that my insides were going to leave without me. I decided to avoid a third dismissal, which instinct told me had the potential to cause a lot of damage. The gargoyle vanished from the pentacle and reappeared on the snake's head. A stony fist punched it in the eye.

The marid reared up in surprise. Its grip on the wolf loosened, and the dying djinni was able to slip out of its coils. It became a rat (4) and started crawling away. The girl ran forward, picked it up, stuffed it into one of her jacket's pockets, and began looked for something under her bed.

I leaped away from the marid and hit it in the face with a Detonation. It hissed with rage and its tail began to thrash around. I knew it wasn't hurt. Just surprised and very angry. The girl was still trying to retrieve something from under her bed.

I grabbed her and started to leap out the large hole in the ceiling. And got swatted back inside by the snake. My landing created a crater in the floor. Meanwhile, the girl wouldn't stop shouting. "Please put me down! The box is still under my bed."

That gave me an idea. I dumped the girl on the floor and picked up the bed. I threw it as hard as I could. One hit from the marid's tail smashed it to bits. Most of the bits fell harmlessly to the floor, but some of them continued on their journey and became embedded in the snake's face. I picked up the girl, who had rushed forward to retrieve a small cardboard box, and exited the house. I fired off a few more Detonations before disappearing down a dark street.

**1.It sounded more like the thing was choking. Snakes aren't meant to chuckle.**

**2.Well, small compared to the snake. She was easily the size of a pony.**

**3.Powerful as I am, I can't match a marid's strength.**

**4.Which looked familiar for some reason.**


	6. Chapter 6 Bartimaeus

Sorry it took me a while to finish chapter 6. I've been busy with school, and I've got some writer's block. Hopefully the next one won't take so long. Anyway, enjoy.

--

As I was making my escape, the girl's head hit a tree and she was knocked out. I had started to sigh with relief (1) when I noticed a sad-looking rat crawling across the girl's jacket. It stopped every few seconds and shook its head before continuing its journey.

It crawled into the girl's other pocket and came out with a box held awkwardly in its mouth. It left a trail of dying essence behind it.

Because I was busy watching this, I didn't notice the chimney until the girl's head hit it. The dying djinni glared at me. The box was now in its paws. "I would appreciate it if you would handle Ms. Gray with more care," she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper because she was so weak.

"You're still alive," I stated, lacking anything better to say at the moment.

"Of course. I can't abandon Ms. Gray."

"'Ms. Gray'? You don't have to be polite while she's unconscious. The brat can't hear a thing."

The rat squeaked angrily. "How dare—" She stopped and shook her head again.

"You should settle down, or you won't last much longer. You're still dripping essence. If it makes you feel any better, I'll hold the human right-side-up." The rat squeaked in surprise as I threw the girl over my shoulder. Her head hit the gargoyle's back with a dull thud. "Sounds hollow. She's a magician after all."

"Be more polite! A lowly demon like you should consider itself lucky that Ms. Gray decided to summon you!"

That little outburst irritated me for some reason. I jumped down into an alley, dropped the girl, took Ptolemy's form, and picked the rat up by its tail. "I think you've been away from the Other Place for too long," I said coldly. "That's the kind of insult I would expect from a magician, not another djinni(2)."

"It's true! Ms. Gray is kinder than any master you've ever had, or ever will have. Show some respect!"

"Kind? If she was kind, would either of us be here right now? Would you be dying? Even a magician should know better than to put a weak djinni like you up against a marid (3)."

"I volunteered. And I'm not weak."

"Look at yourself. You barely pass as a djinni. And you're probably only a few centuries old."

"I am exactly 524 years old. That isn't young!" the rat protested.

"For a being of the Other Place it is. I'm over 4000 years older than you. You should respect your elders (4)."

The rat closed its eyes for a moment. When they opened again, there was a mischievous look in them. "Have you always looked that hideous on the seventh plane, _gramps_?"

I dropped the rat and sat on it. I didn't want to hear anymore right now. Some of the things the djinni was saying were a little disturbing. She sounded like a magician. She had actually called a fellow spirit a demon. I studied the unconscious human, who now had a large bruise on her forehead, and wondered if it had something to do with her. Or perhaps another master.

Whatever had happened during the djinni's last five centuries of existence, it had made some big changes to the way she thought. I decided to talk to "Ms. Gray" about it when she decided to wake up.

**1. I finally had some peace and quiet.**

**2. The little rat sounded more like a magician than her master did.**

**3.Actually, a magician probably wouldn't care, even if they _did _know better.**

**4. This does _not _mean I'm old. I've just been around a while.**


	7. Chapter 7 Amadahy

After successfully deciphering the information on Wikipedia, I finally finished this chapter. Oh, and sorry if the Aztec names are kind of hard to pronounce. That's why I used nicknames. Enjoy.

--

I was first summoned by an Aztec prince named Cuauhtémoc in 1519, my first year of existence. Back then I was known as Quiyahuitl, a very simple name. I got along fairly well with Cua, as I called him.

Cua was very independent and would sometimes play tricks on the servants that followed him everywhere he went. I was often asked to sneak into their rooms while they slept and place cockroaches in their beds, or take the form of a jaguar and chase them around the palace when they woke up in the morning. I was never asked to do anything dangerous, so I enjoyed my job

However, the fun didn't last. It was around this time that the Spanish arrived. They brought diseases such as smallpox with them. The smallpox soon began to infect and kill the people of the empire. Not even Tenochtitlan, the capital, was safe.

Things went from bad to worse. A Spaniard called Cortes, who had allied himself with different tribes he met along the way, attacked the city of Cholula. There, he murdered thousands of unarmed humans and burned most of the city down.

He then arrived at Tenochtitlan. The emperor allowed him into the city, hoping to learn more about his enemy. But he was kidnaped and some time later, he was killed. Cua's uncle was made emperor. Only eighty days later, the new emperor died of smallpox. My master replaced him.

For awhile, Cortes became preoccupied with more important matters, and the Aztecs were able to relax. But that soon changed. One day, a marid showed up at the palace. It had a message for the emperor.

I stood next to Cua's throne in the form of a slave girl and watched the spirit approach. Several of the advisors took two or three steps back. It had taken the form of the sky god, Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. "I am Necalli," it hissed. "I come with a message from my master."

"You mean Cortes?" my master asked.

"Yes. He suggests that you let him into the city before he has to kill anymore of your people."

"Tell Cortes that he can stick his suggestions up—" Everyone in the room, with the exception of Necalli, flinched. I had never heard Cua use such language.

"Oh dear," Necalli sighed. "Now I have to kill you." Then he smiled. "Oh, and did I mention that Cortes's whole army is waiting just a mile away from here?"

All the advisors began talking at once. I ignored them and became a jaguar. Necalli's smile grew wider, revealing a pair of three-foot-long fangs. Just as I was about to attack the marid, Cua stomped on my tail. My yowl silenced the room.

"That's better," the emperor said. "My ears were starting to hurt."

"What did you do that for?" I shouted.

"That marid would have killed you in an instant, Quiyahuitl."

"I'm nearly as strong as an afrit!" I protested. "I can handle one oversized snake!"

"'Nearly as strong' isn't enough." Cua waved his hand, and four guards walked into the room. Following behind them were two marids, each at least as strong as Necalli. "Please leave my city, spirit. And tell Cortes that he should leave as well, or he will regret this day for the rest of his life. If he survives."

Necalli let out an irritated hiss. "Very well, human. I will tell him, but it is _you _who will regret this day."

As soon as the marid was gone, I turned back into a slave girl and left the room. Cua was wrong, I could have killed Necalli. I was strong enough. That night, I waited until midnight for my master to return to his room.

He was somewhat surprised to see an irritated girl lying on his bed. "Shouldn't you be guarding the gates?"

"What use would I be? I'm just a weak djinni who you summoned out of pity."

"Quiyahuitl—"

"You don't have to waste words on a pathetic creature like me, Emperor Cuauhtémoc."

"I—"

"No, don't bother. I'm—"

"You're an annoying djinni who can't keep her mouth shut!" Cua shouted. "I've never said you were weak. However, you cannot stand up to a marid and survive. Maybe if you'd stop whining like a child and start acting like a djinni, I would take you more seriously."

"Whatever."

"Could you please let me sleep now? Cortes will most likely attack tomorrow."

"Only if you promise one thing."

Cua suddenly looked very tired. "You're not going to ask to fight the marid, are you?"

"Allow me to guard you during the battle."

My master smiled. "Of course. What other djinni is as reliable as you?"

I became a fluffy jaguar kitten and purred happily. Cua scratched one of my ears before picking me up and dropping me outside the door. "Goodnight," he said, and then slammed the door shut. The happiest kitten that had ever existed pranced away down the dark hall.


	8. Chapter 8 Vivian

Sorry it took so long to finish this chapter.

Enjoy

Dont own Bart or Kitty (who might show up in the next chapter)

--

The first thing she became aware of was the headache. Her head _really _hurt. It felt like someone had hit her with a brick. Next she noticed that she couldn't feel her right arm. She glanced at the injury and immediately looked away. She would have to go to the hospital.

"Did you have nice dreams?" An Egyptian boy in a loincloth was sitting a few feet away from her. From underneath him came a high-pitched voice. "Ms. Gray!"

Bartimaeus levitated off the ground long enough for a slightly squashed rat to make its escape. "Ms. Gray!" it squeaked again as it launched itself into Vivian's lap. "Are you okay? I thought you'd never wake up."

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm fine, too," Amadahy said at the same time that the Egyptian boy said, "She'll probably be dead in a few days."

"Dead? What did Necalli do to her?"

"Probably just hit her with a Detonation. It wouldn't have taken him any effort at all. He _is _a marid."

"But Amadahy is a djinni. How could he injure her so seriously in less than a minute?" Vivian asked.

"Marids are much stronger than djinn."

"You're a djinni too, Bartimaeus, but you look just fine to me, so why is Amadahy hurt?"

The Egyptian boy looked insulted. "Don't compare me to that little blot of essence. She is hardly stronger—" He stopped suddenly and began examining his fingernails.

"I was careless," the rat said. "I could have easily escaped without a scratch."

"I should dismiss you."

"Absolutely not! I have to keep you safe," Amadahy said. "Bartimaeus was exaggerating. I'll be fine after a few days."

"You don't look fine. You're dripping essence and you're two-dimensional."

"Well, I never said I was in perfect condition, but I won't be dead in a few days," Amadahy said while folding herself in a few places. When she was done, she resembled something that may have been put together by a three-year-old.

Vivian suddenly remembered something very important. "Where's the box? I didn't drop it, did I?"

"I have it," Bartimaeus said, and threw the box at Vivian.

It hit her head, and the headache grew stronger. Vivian touched her forehead, which was swelling. "Did something hit me while we were escaping?"

"A chimney," said the rat.

"A tree," said the boy.

"An ugly, old gargoyle."

"Oh. How did I hit all that?"

Both spirits started talking at the same time.

According to Amadahy, Vivian had been knocked out because Bartimaeus was being careless and had allowed her to hit a tree. A short time later, because of Bartimaeus's carelessness, she had hit a chimney. Then, Bartimaeus, who continued to be careless, had thrown Vivian over his shoulder, causing her to hit his back. Then he had nearly killed Amadahy when he sat on her.

According to Bartimaeus, Necalli had sent a pack of vicious foliots and bloodthirsty imps after him. One, in the form of a man-eating oak tree, had managed to knock Vivian out before Bartimaeus turned it into a pile of ash. Then several imps had begun throwing bricks at him. Despite Bartimaeus's best efforts, one of the bricks managed to reach Vivian's head. The courageous djinni had taken revenge for his master by stuffing the imps into a water bottle which happened to be lying around. He had then destroyed the rest of Necalli's army. He didn't know anything about an "ugly old gargoyle".

"Very . . . interesting."

"Are we going to Ms. Kathleen Jones's house now?" Amadahy asked.

"Yes. Bart—"

"What does Kitty have to do with this?" Bartimaeus asked suddenly.

"You mean Ms. Jones? She's the lady you're suppose take this box to."

"I won't let you involve Kitty in this," the boy said.

"But—"

"Just dismiss me. I refuse—"

"You don't have a choice," Amadahy interrupted. "Ms. Gray ordered you to help her find her brother. And to do that, you have to take this box to Kathleen Jones."

"I won't lead that marid to Kitty."

"Is she someone you know?" Vivian asked.

"She summoned me sometime before Nouda tried to kill every human in London," Bartimaeus answered.

"She's a magician?" Vivian asked, ignoring the fear that flashed through her. Why would Nick send her to a magician's house? He didn't trust them anymore than she did.

"No. A commoner."

"But commoners couldn't summon spirits back then, could they?"

"No. But Kitty didn't always follow the rules. She _did _use Ptolemy's Gate."

"She's the one that did that?" Vivian had learned something about the Gate in school.

"I wondered who that human was," Amadahy muttered. "She was a foolish child."

"That's the first smart thing you've said all day," the Egyptian boy said.

"I wish I could go to the Other Place," Vivian said, mostly to herself. The spirits started talking at the same time again. They didn't like her idea.

Vivian sighed and made an attempt to stand. She started feeling dizzy and had to lean against the side of a building. Amadahy jumped on her shoulder and started making concerned squeaks that Vivian couldn't understand. "I guess I hit my head too many times."

"That oak tree _was _vicious," Bartimeaus said. He stood and brushed some dust of his loincloth. "So, are we going to Kitty's house, or are we going to stay in this alley?"

"I thought you didn't want to involve your girlfriend," Amadahy squeaked.

"You're going to give her that box and leave, right?"

"Yes."

"Then let's get this over with. I want to return to the Other Place."

Vivian smiled. "Thanks."

"Whatever." The djinni started walking away.

"Hey, gramps," the rat called. "Ms. Gray can't walk. Carry her."

"Why should I?"

"Because it's your fault she can't walk."

The Egyptian growled a little, but picked Vivian up anyway. They left the alley.


	9. Chapter 9 Bartimaeus

The next chapter is finally up, and the next one is right behind it!

:) ;) (.)

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As I carried the girl across the rooftops, I tried to ignore Amadahy's cold stare. The first time Vivian had summoned me, she hadn't seemed very powerful. The second time had been the same until the marid had started to crush the djinni. Then her commands had become almost impossible to refuse. Especially the second one which had come close to tearing my essence apart. Now she was just a pathetic brat again. The girl's djinni seemed to be similar. Her strength had barely been above that of a foliot until I started pointing out how weak she was. For just a moment she had been stronger somehow. I had actually thought she was an afrit. Even though the change was so brief that I might have imagined it, I had suddenly felt the need to stop talking.

I looked down at the rat sitting on its master's shoulder and thought of Nafre's Amulet (1). But that was impossible. I had chucked that thing into a lake in South America centuries ago. I pushed the Amulet to the back of my mind and realized something. "Where does Kitty live?"

Vivian stared up at me blankly. Apparently she didn't know either.

"It said in Nick's letter," the rat squeaked.

"Where is it?" the girl and Ptolemy asked at the same time.

"On the kitchen table."

''''''''

''''''''

"Remind me again why we're back here?" I hissed, now in the form of a panther.

"Because we have to find that letter," Vivian whispered back.

"And what do you plan to do if Necalli is still here?"

"Just a minute ago you assured us he was gone," Amadahy said. She had forced herself into her giant wolf shape, losing some more essence in the process.

"What if he comes back?"

The wolf bared its fangs. "Then we fight."

"And I'll be stuck doing all the fighting," I growled.

"Just be quiet and go look for the letter."

"Why?"

"Because Ms. Gray ordered you to."

"Perhaps earwax has caused me to have poor hearing, because I'm sure it was _you _who gave the order."

"Let's all go," Vivian suggested, looking somewhat uncomfortable between a panther and a giant wolf.

"But Ms. Gray—"

"It wouldn't be fair to send Bartimaeus in by himself." Then the girl crept towards her house (2). She raced into the house with Amadahy close behind. I followed more slowly. If the ceiling suddenly caved in, I didn't want to be in the way.

The panther had just taken its first reluctant paw step inside when the girl rushed back out, slamming into it. Girl and djinni fell to the ground, the latter providing a soft landing for the former. They were soon joined by a wolf who was frantically trying to keep up with its mistress. Apparently I was right to worry about the ceiling, because a few moments later what was left of the house collapsed. "I really hope you got the letter, because I don't look forward to digging through that pile of rubble . . ."

Vivian held the crumpled paper up triumphantly. "Good. Now, do me a favor."

"What?" the girl asked.

"GET OFF OF ME!!"

''''''''

''''''''

Sometime later we were traveling across the rooftops again. Kitty's house was on the other side of London, so it was taking a while to get there. The girl had fallen asleep sometime ago, and the wolf had quickly, and with some relief, traveled down the food chain. It was now a runty mouse. And it was getting weaker. It could no longer be considered a djinni. By morning it might be mistaken for an imp. I found myself thinking about Nafre's Amulet again.

"Who was your first master?" I asked the mouse.

"The last of the Aztec emperors," it mumbled, barely conscious.

"That would be Cuauhtémoc."

The mouse smiled slightly at some memory. "Cua. I miss him."

"Do you know anything about Nafre's Amulet?"

The mouse's smile disappeared. "The shiny rock at the bottom of the lake . . ."

"Yes, go on," I said, but the mouse had already fallen asleep. I watched it twitch as it dreamed until a chimney loomed in front of me, persuading me to focus on the path in front of me. I could ask the mouse about the Amulet later.

--

**1. Nafre's Amulet isn't really an amulet. It hurts its bearer more than it helps her. Also, the effects it has on humans are different from those it has on spirits. Human bearers are shielded from the effects of time and become immortal. Unless they lose the Amulet, in which case time finally catches up with them. Bearers from the Other Place, however, are shielded from most of the essence-healing effects of their home. Putting the Amulet on is suicidal for a djinni.**

**2. What use to be her house. What hadn't already been reduced to splinters was barely standing.**


	10. Chapter 10 Amadahy

Chapter 10! If this good mood of mine keeps going, I might have Chapter 11 up in a day or two!

Enjoy!!

--

My essence spilled across the ground as I struggled to carry Cua to safety. The gaping wound in his belly allowed his blood to spill faster than my essence. Necalli had been right. We would live to regret this day. If we lived at all. This was my fault. If Cua had been protected by stronger, more reliable spirits, he wouldn't be dying right now. I wished that I could forget what I had done, but the memory kept coming back to haunt me:

_I raced at the front of the Aztec army, a ferocious jaguar with gleaming fangs. Cua rode on my back, shield raised, spear pointed forward. An army of warriors and spirits in various forms followed close behind. In front, was Cortes's army, moving much more slowly. The soldiers in front fired their rifles. The bullets weren't able to get through the spirits' shields. I let out a roar of triumph as I sank my claws and fangs into the nearest rifleman. My roar was joined by others as the two armies collided._

_A Detonation hit my shield, alerting me to the approach of an enemy djinni, which I swiftly tore apart. "Leave the spirits alone," Cua ordered. "They aren't here because they want to be." _

_I growled to let him know I was annoyed, but satisfied myself with knocking the spirits back twenty or thirty feet. I even swallowed a weaker one when Cua wasn't looking, but otherwise I willingly obeyed. I was enjoying my first battle._

_Then something whipped my shield, shattering it, and sending Cua and myself flying. "What a pathetic shield," chuckled a familiar voice. I leaped to my paws, snarling at the Feathered Serpent. "I wonder if you will taste better than your comrades."_

"_Quiyahuitl, don't!"_

_I ignored my master's warning and leaped towards the marid. It wasn't until Necalli started laughing that I realized my mistake. Because I wasn't near Cua anymore, my shield didn't protect him. The marid's tail, which had grown a sharp blade on the end, snapped forward and hit the emperor._

"_Cua!" I ignored Necalli's blade as it slashed against my side, focusing all of my attention on getting back to my master. I only stopped for a second to throw up a new shield when a group of surviving rifleman took aim at me. _

_At first, I wasn't sure what had happened. The bullets passed right through my shield. Then I felt my essence burn and I understood. The invaders knew about silver. I ignored the pain and hurried to Cua's side._

"_Cua! Are you alright? I'm sorry! I should have listened. I'm sorry!"_

_My master smiled, his eyes closed. "Do I _look _alright? The snake has a sharp tail."_

"_Don't worry! I'll get you out of here, Cua."_

_But he shook his head. "I will stay until the fight is over." Then he slowly sat up. Ignoring my protests, he stood and managed to climb onto my back. "Let's go. Unless you're too weak to fight."_

_I forced a smile. "I'm alright. Let's go!" _

I growled at the memory. I should have taken Cua to safety! Instead I had continued fighting. Amazingly the boy had managed to stay conscious until sunset. He had always been tough.

"Hey, Quiya. Where are we going?"

"As far from Necalli as we can get."

"But just yesterday you were determined to kill him."

"You weren't dying yesterday."

Cua glared up at me. "I am _not _dying."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't losing this much blood fatal to humans?"

"Will dragging me to some cave help?"

"Yes. I had a chat with one of the healers before the battle. All I need is some plant with red leaves and yellow flowers."

"Liar. You were with me the whole time. You didn't go anywhere near the healers."

I was about to tell him to shut up when I heard a familiar chuckle. "Time to go." I became a giant eagle, picked Cua up with razor-sharp claws, and flew away. The burning of silver in my essence was almost unbearable. Somehow, though, I managed to keep flying.

I let out a cry of relief when I saw the shore. If I could just get off this island and to the mainland, I would be able to escape. As the eagle was flying over the water, something—a Detonation—hit its wing, tearing it off. The huge bird, along with the boy, hit the water, sinking below the cold surface.

A Detonation followed them, hitting the bird in the chest, pushing it deeper into the lake, until it touched the bottom. My form was making swimming difficult, so I forced myself into the shape of the slave girl and prepared to head back to the surface.

Then something shiny caught my eye. There, sitting next to a moss-covered boulder, covered in mud and decomposing leaves, was a fist-sized stone. The thing that made it noticeable, was the massive aura surrounding it. If that was a magical object, then the being trapped within was stronger than anything I'd ever experienced. Compared to it, Necalli was as frail as a newborn baby. I wasn't aware that I had picked it up until a flash of pain shot up my arm. Then there was nothing. Just an empty feeling, like I'd lost something very important. And the realization that the stone was no longer under my hand, but flowing through my essence, like some kind of icy river.

I suddenly felt very cold.


	11. Chapter 11 Kitty

Finally, Kitty shows up! Enjoy!

--

The phone rang, waking Kitty up from her sleep. Now what? Reluctantly, she got out of bed and answered the phone. "Who are you and what do you want?" she snapped. She had been sick for the past few days and was in a bad mood.

"Good morning, Ms. Jones!" said a cheerful voice. "It's me!"

"Oh. Nice talking to you. Bye!"

"Wa—,"

"I can't stand that man," Kitty growled as she slammed the phone down. She got up and walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where she made herself a cup of coffee, which she gulped down in seconds. Then she clapped her hands. "Right! Time to get ready for work!"

As Kitty was grumbling about all the gray in her hair, the phone rang again. "Before you hang up again, I just wanted to say, 'Happy Birthday!'"

"Don't remind me," Kitty growled, still examining her hair. "Goodbye, Roland."

"You're fifty-two now, right?"

"_Goodbye_, Roland." Then she slammed the phone down again. "Does he have to remind me? I _know _I'm getting old. He doesn't have to remind me every year!"

As Kitty drove to the café she'd been working at for the past thirty years, something hit her windshield. It was an imp. Kitty swerved, narrowly missing a mailbox, and hitting a tree instead. "What do you think you're doing?! Look both ways before crossing!"

"Forgive me, Ms. Gray," the imp said, peeling itself off of the glass. "Mr. Dedopulos wanted me to give you a message."

"Why didn't he just tell me on the phone?" Kitty asked.

"Because you didn't give him time to talk."

Kitty sighed. "Fine. What's the message?"

"He requests that you meet him at his house after work."

"What for?"

"I think he wants to celebrate your birthday. Do you have a reply?"

"Yes, and make sure you repeat _every single word_."

"Of course, Ms. Gray."

"'Roland! So nice to hear from you, for the _third time _this morning. Unfortunately, I have to work, so I can't come over. Have a nice day! P.s. You owe me a new car.' Did you get all that?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now get off what's left of my car."

Once the imp had flown away, Kitty wasted ten minutes getting her car started. When she finally got to work, her boss didn't hesitate to yell at her for being late. "Be more respectful to your elders," she growled as she took her place behind the counter.

"Hey, Kitty!" one of the other barmaids, Hannah, called. She was only fifteen and she didn't seem to notice that Kitty was old enough to be her grandmother. "I've missed you! Why did you disappear for so long?"

"I was only gone for two days, Hannah," Kitty sighed. "I had a cold."

"Mr. Dedopulos was here yesterday."

"What did he want?"

"Oh, he was passing out invitations to all the customers."

"For what?"

"Your birthday party, silly! Oh, I have to bring Mrs. Lewe her coffee. Talk to you later!" And with that, she was gone.

Kitty was speechless for a minute. When she finally understood what this meant, the look in Kitty's eyes could have been described as murderous. "_Roland!_" she hissed. He would regret this day for the rest of his life.

--

--

--

Hours later, Kitty climbed into her "car" and headed home. Once there she quickly called Roland. "Hannah told me what you did."

"Have you changed your mind about coming?" The cheerfulness in his voice irritated Kitty even more. Why was he always so _happy_?

"Did you invite anyone important?"

"Does the prime minister count as 'important'?"

Kitty cursed. "You'll be sorry."

"Don't be so grumpy, Kitty! The party will be fun. Just think of it as a date!" Roland said, cheerful as always.

"That makes it worse! I'm twenty years older than you!"

"Just come, okay?"

"Roland—"

"_Please?_" he whined, sounding more like a spoiled child than like a member of the government. "Come on, Kitty. Try to have some fun."

Kitty sighed. "Only if you promise to buy me a car."

"Deal! See you at seven."

Kitty sighed again and hung up. Thirty years ago, behaving like that would have gotten him killed. With _another _sigh (she'd been doing a lot of sighing lately), Kitty walked upstairs and rummaged around in her closet for something to wear to the party. In the end, she chose a simple blue skirt and a white blouse. She even went through the trouble of brushing her hair, something she didn't really bother with anymore. Ever since her hair had started going gray, she had kept it very short, so there wasn't much to brush. Once that was done, she sat on the couch and waited.

Kitty didn't realize that she had fallen asleep until a loud thump woke her up. Muffled voices came from outside. Kitty walked to the door and opened it. On her lawn were two strange people and a very anxious puff of smoke. One of the strangers, a girl of about thirteen, had one arm wrapped around the waist of a boy. The boy's head appeared to be stuck in the ground, while his rear stuck straight up. She seemed to be trying to pull him out. The puff of smoke was just circling the girl's head, cheering her on.

"Good job, Ms. Gray! Keep pulling! You will get him out eventually!"

"'Eventually' isn't good enough!" the boy shouted, his voice muffled.

"Hold on, Bartimaeus! I am so sorry about this! Please don't suffocate!" the girl cried.

"JUST GET ME OUT!!"

Kitty blinked. Bartimaeus? Had she misheard? No. She recognized his voice, and the form he was in. It was, of course, Ptolemy's form. Kitty walked across the yard slowly, stopping behind the girl. "Bartimaeus?"

The boy froze. "Was that Kitty?" he hissed.

"Bartimaeus . . ."

"Get me out of here!! HURRY UP!" the djinni shouted.

" . . . you've become an ostrich. '

--

**Note on ostrich comment:** People used to say that ostriches stuck their heads in the sand to escape from danger. Just a note to anyone who didn't know that! :)


	12. Chapter 12 Vivian

Good evening! (At least, it is here.) Enjoy chapter 12!

--

Vivian stared at the cup of coffee in her hand. Almost a half and hour had passed since Vivian and her djinn and crash landed in Kathleen Jones's front yard, leaving a small crater where Bartimaeus's head had become stuck. The two djinn were now busy telling Ms. Jones how they had ended up here. The story went something like this:

Bartimaeus began by saying, "So I'm just floating around in the Other Place, minding my own business, when this little brat—," he waved his had at Vivian "—decided to summon me. Then she—

"Ms. Gray is not a brat!" Amadahy interrupted

The boy's arm turned into a large wing, which he used to blow Amadahy away."_As I was saying_, this little brat summoned me, but when she realized how powerful I was, she sent me right back. Then, not even a day later, she dares to summon me again, and forces me to fight a marid, who this little waste of essence has already failed to defeat."

The smoke gave a cry of outrage and launched itself at him. One wing-flap sent it back to the other side of the room. "Then, after a fierce battle, I managed to escape with the brat and the Queen of Smoke Puffs." He then told the whole Necalli-sends-army-of-vicious-foliots-and-bloodthirsty-imps-after-them-which-he-heroically-destroys story. "After that, we rested in an alley for a while before going back to the house, getting the letter, nearly getting crushed by a falling house, and, finally, arriving here."

"Very interesting," Kathleen Jones said, looking slightly amused. "But you left out a part."

"Oh, and what would that be?" Bartimaeus asked.

"Why were you impersonating an ostrich?"

"Would you please stop mentioning that?" the djinni snapped.

"I would, if you would tell me how it happened."

Bartimaeus said something in a foreign language, which Vivian was glad she didn't understand. "It was my fault," she said. "I was having a dream and I suddenly woke up. I think I tried to sit up and my head hit Bartimaeus's. It would explain why my head started hurting again."

Actually, it had been more of a nightmare. All Vivian remembered was the smell of rosemary, but that was all she needed to remember to know what she had dreamed about.

Ms. Jones turned her head and looked at the girl. "Vivian Gray, right?"

Vivian nodded.

"Well, then you probably have something to give me."

Vivian's useless right hand tried to reach for the box she had in her jacket, but all it did was twitch. "How did you know?"

"I've been expecting your brother to arrive for sometime now. He sent me a message, saying that he had discovered something very important in Prague."

"What was Mr. Gray doing in Prague?" Amadahy asked, floating back to Vivian's side. The girl was wondering the exact same thing. Nick had always had a bad case of xenophobia. He couldn't so much as look at a foreigner without going completely pale. As far as Vivian knew, her brother had never left the country.

Ms. Jones looked confused. "Didn't he tell you? The Prime Minister himself sent him to Prague a month ago."

"How does Nick know the Prime Minister?" Vivian asked.

"What do you mean? He was one of the government's top magicians. The Commoner's Council picked him themselves. He could have probably been elected Prime Minister, if he'd wanted to be."

"Nick works in a bookstore."

Ms. Jones raised one of her eyebrows. "I guess he didn't tell you. He was always secretive. He had to be."

"Why?"

"Because he was a spy." Ms. Jones said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"After your parents were killed, he stopped going on missions, but he did say he would start working again when you turned fifteen. But you can't be older than twelve or thirteen."

"I turned fifteen a month ago." Around the time he disappeared and supposedly got sent to Prague, Vivian realized.

Bartimaeus and Ms. Jones stared at her curiously. "You don't look fifteen."

"Well, I am. Could we—"

"I agree. She's too shrimpy to be fifteen," Bartimaeus interrupted. "Not even Nat was this shrimpy."

Ms. Jones's eyes hardened. "That reminds me, why are _you _the only one that escaped the Glass Palace?"

The Egyptian boy also became serious. "Perhaps we should discuss this later. You need to focus of helping the brat, and I need to focus on staying alive long enough to return to the Other Place."

Vivian didn't really understand what they were talking about, and she didn't really care right now. "Excuse me, but could we get back to discussing Nick?"

The woman and the djinni reluctantly stopped glaring at each other. "Sorry. So, do you have the package?" Ms. Jones asked.

Vivian placed the cup of coffee down on the table and took the box out of her pocket. "Here it is."

"This is it?"

"Yes. Were you expecting something different?"

"I didn't think it would be so small." Ms. Jones examined the squashed box for a few moments.

"Go ahead," Bartimaeus said quietly, "open it."

"I wonder what's inside." Amadahy was hovering just above Vivian's head now.

"Everyone get ready," Kitty said. Then she slowly began to open the box. As the lid began to lift, a pale green glow came from within, accompanied by the sound of someone speaking.

Everyone leaned forward to see what was inside.

The lid was lifted and . . .

--

Sorry, chapter over. You'll have to wait to see what's inside the box. ;)


	13. Chapter 13 Bartimaeus

Sorry it took so long!! I had to rewrite the chapter a few times until I was satisfied. My ideas weren't flowing like they usually do. They were sort of limping forward. Anyway, hope you like the chap. And again, I apologize for the wait.

--

. . . _Bang! _"I'M FREE!". A small red imp burst out of the box and did a few somersaults in the air before landing on the table. It turned to Vivian and said, "Hi, you must be—" _Squick! _(1)I raised my fist from the slightly cracked table. The imp wasn't quite as energetic now that it was paper thin. While the imp attempted to inflate itself, I looked around to see the reactions of the others.

Kitty had dropped the box and was now looking rather pale, but otherwise she was fine. Vivian, however, had stood up so fast that she had knocked her chair over, and was now trying to push it back with a shaking hand. I think she was starting to hyperventilate. It was hard to tell what the smoke puff was thinking, since it didn't have a face. However, the way it quivered suggested the imp had surprised it.

"Now, was that really necessary?" the imp grumbled once it was able to stand. "I wasn't going to—" _Sl Ow! amp! _(2) Kitty adjusted her blouse.

"Would you people stop that!?" the imp snapped. I could just see Kitty's fingerprints on its freshly flattened head. "I've been in there so long, I thought I would go crazy!"

"Why _were _you in there?" Kitty asked.

"Mr. Nick ordered me to give his sister and her djinni a message. Where are they?"

"H-here I am. N-nice to m-meet you," Vivian said, sounding as timid as when I first met her.

The imp studied her for a few moments. "You look horrible," were the first words to leave its mouth.

The smoke puff zipped down and floated only millimeters from the imp's chubby, red face. "Do not insult Ms. Gray. Apologize to her."

I sighed. Was someone insulting the brat really so horrible?

"What are you supposed to be?" the imp asked. "A mite? No, mites can't talk. Too stupid." The imp waved the smoke away. "Anyway, did you want to hear Mr. Nick's message, or not?"

"Yes, please," Vivian said.

The imp nodded and began. "'Hey, Viv. The imp didn't scare you too much, did it? Whatever. I just wanted to let you know that the marid, Necalli, is after Nafre's Amulet, which is currently in Amadahy's possession. Make sure he doesn't get it.'"

I glanced at the smoke puff. So, I had been right. No wonder she was so weak.

The imp continued. "'Oh, and hopefully you found your way to Ms. Jones's house. You'll be safer with her than you would be by yourself. Be sure to ask her about the Amulet's Twin. Necalli is after that, too.'"

Now, I glanced at Kitty. This was getting interesting.

"'Bartimaeus should be able to tell you everything you want to know about the Amulet and its Twin. Amadahy is probably getting fairly weak by now. If you don't figure out a way to get the Amulet out of her, she will die soon. Good luck, sis. I'm sure you'll do fine on your own.'"

Three (3) pairs of eyes turned towards me. "Please enlighten us, Bartimaeus," Kitty said. "What are the Amulet and its Twin?"

"And what did Nick mean when he said to get the Amulet out of Amadahy?" the brat asked.

I sighed. This would take a bit of explaining. "Okay, Nafre's Amulet, is this stone that has a really powerful spirit trapped inside. It grants immortality to humans, and death to other spirits. Any spirit unlucky enough to wear it is not allowed to return to the Other Place. The smoke puff happens to be one of those unlucky spirits."

"Then where does she go when she is dismissed?" Vivian asked.

"I am trapped between your world and the Other Place," Amadahy answered.

"She can still recover a little there, but if she's kept on Earth too long, she starts to die." I waved my hand and scattered the smoke. "See? She can't keep a solid form anymore."

"Amadahy! Why didn't you tell me?" Vivian cried.

"I prefer this world. The In-between is very lonely."

"Well, don't worry. I promise I'll get rid of that Amulet. You _will _be able to return to the Other Place."

I was almost impressed. Vivian sounded very confident. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep." I looked at Kitty. She had stood up and was now walking towards the stairs. "Please come with me, Vivian. We need to do something about that arm. And your head doesn't look that great either." The brat followed her hesitantly, glancing at the smoke puff a few times before heading upstairs.

The room was silent until the imp spoke up. "So . . . can I go now?"

"You'd better. I might forget you're there and accidently step on you," I said. The imp gulped and vanished.

"What was the promise?" the smoke puff asked.

"What promise?"

"The one you made to Ms. Jones. Why did you break it?"

"What makes you think I was the one that broke the promise?"

"She was looking at you when she said it."

"Let's just say I was involved with the person that broke the promise."

"Oh. So, how much time do I have left?"

"A day or two. If you don't get attacked."

The smoke puff nodded. (4) With a sigh, Amadahy floated to the door and began to drift through the keyhole.

"Where are you going?"

"Just tell Vivian not too worry. There's something I have to do." And with that, she left. I looked around the room uncomfortably before sitting back in the chair and getting some well-earned rest.

--

**1.This is what you get if you combine _Squish! _and _Crack!_**

**2.Use your imagination for this one.**

**3.Four, if you counted the smoke puff.**

**4.I think. She really just bobbed forward a bit.**


	14. Chapter 14 Amadahy

Hope you like Chapter 14!

--

Once I got over the shock of realizing the stone was now inside me, I began to look around, frantically searching for Cua. It didn't take long. The water around him had become red. Somehow he had managed to reach the surface.

I quickly swam up, exploding out of the water. I grabbed Cua and dragged him to the shore. The shore of the island, unfortunately. The mainland was too far away.

"Cua? Are you alright?"

The emperor sighed. "As I asked before: Do I _look _alright?"

"No, but─"

"Then stop asking. When a person's innards are about to spill onto the ground, they are not _alright_."

"Well, excuse me for being concerned," I snapped.

Cua's chuckle turned into a cough. Blood trickled out of his mouth. "I guess . . . that means I shouldn't . . . laugh anymore," he said, and immediately started chuckling again. And, again, he began coughing.

"Stop that! How can you laugh at a time like this?"

"Don't know. Maybe losing so much blood is causing me to go insane," he suggested, grinning like he did after I scared one of his advisors out of their skin.

I fought down a wave of panic. Cua would be alright. I just had to turn into a bird again and fly him to the mainland. It wouldn't be hard to find a healer there. "Right," I said, mostly to myself. "He will be fine."

"Who will?"Cua muttered. His eyes closed, and I started to feel panicky again.

"Oh, dear. Is your precious prince dead yet?" The voice made my essence shiver. I had forgotten about him.

I stood up and became a jaguar. The snake chuckled. "Still think you can fight me?"

"Of course," I said.

Necalli began to grow until his head was higher than the trees. "Okay, then attack."

I moved closer to Cua, my eyes on the marid's tail, which was now in the lake. "You first." I wouldn't make the same mistake I'd made on the battlefield twice.

Necalli sighed and lashed out with his tail. I didn't have time to do anything but throw up a shield, which almost shattered. "Shouldn't you use a larger form?" This time he lunged forward, his huge fangs passing through my shield, narrowly missing Cua's head.

I cursed. I couldn't do anything but the defend. The marid moved too─Fastening my teeth around Cua's arm, I dragged out of the way of the marid's tail. I think even the Spanish felt the ground shake. How was I supposed to fight something like this? Especially when I was this weak.

The tail snapped towards the my head. I ducked just in time─And my legs were swept out from under me. Before I fell back down, Necalli batted me backwards. I destroyed several trees before coming to a stop.

I almost passed out when I tried to stand. Actually, I may have, because next thing I knew Cua was sitting next to me, talking to the marid, who had shrunk down to a more reasonable size. A man I guessed was Cortes, along with four human soldiers, were standing next to him. "So, you're going to reveal where all of your gold is hidden as long as we keep this promise?"

"Correct," Cua answered.

Cortes laughed. "You have a deal."

Then Cua started saying something. It took me a moment to realize that he was dismissing me. "What are you doing?" I cried, springing to my feet.

"Your master is a fool," Necalli chuckled. "He's going to show us where his treasure room is if we let you live."

"What treasure room?" I asked. Cua didn't have one, did he?

As my master finished the dismissal, and I became unable to keep a solid form, I saw Cortes's face become several shades paler. He drew his sword. Cua said something and smirked at the Spaniard. It sounded like, "Now who's the fool?"

Cortes's sword swung down towards his neck. I closed my eyes, but it wasn't necessary. I had returned to the Other Place. Wait. This wasn't the Other Place, was it? Everything was dark. No, not everything. I could see a small pinprick of light. I tried to move towards it, but no matter how long I drifted, I never reached it.

Being cut off from the Other Place didn't really bother me. I had never spent very much time there before I was summoned by Cua. And I had enjoyed being on Earth so much, that I'd never really missed my home.

During the following century, I think I came close to feeling what humans call depression. Why had Cua lied to save _me_? He could have lived if he'd gotten Cortes to agree to spare him in exchange for the made-up treasure room. He really was an idiot.

But djinn don't dwell on such things. They just worry about keeping themselves alive. That's exactly what I did. I still missed Cua, of course, but I moved on. He would have died eventually anyway. To a spirit, a human's life passes in the blink of an eye.

'''''''

'''''''

"What am I doing here?" I wondered as I drifted down a random street. Vivian would probably worry if I didn't return soon. If she came looking for me, Necalli might attack. Or was it me he was really after? If that Amulet was really inside me, then I was the one in danger. I was very weak right now. Unbelievably weak. It would be decades before I returned to the way I was before Necalli attacked. If I didn't die.

"Shouldn't you be with my sister?" asked a voice from behind. Before I could turn around, some invisible force drew me back and I suddenly found myself in a jar. I drifted down and yelped when I felt the burn of silver. I would have pressed myself against the top in an attempt to escape the silver if the lid wasn't also silver. Even the sides had a few shards of silver embedded in them. Just my luck. I could have ended up in a jar full of jelly, or in a water bottle, but _no_. I just _had _to be stuck in a jar covered in _silver_.


	15. Chapter 15 Vivian

Vivian tried not to move as Ms. Jones cleaned the slash on her shoulder. "I'm not sure why you can't move your arm," Ms. Jones said as she worked. "It's not bleeding anymore, but you should still see a doctor before it gets infected."

"Not until I find my brother."

The woman sighed and began putting some bandages on Vivian's shoulder. Then she turned her attention to Vivian's forehead, poking the large bruise a little. "You may have to start wearing a helmet," she said.

"Why?" Vivian asked, flinching when Ms. Jones's finger began to prod a particularly tender spot.

"So you won't get killed when the next brick decides to fly at your head." Ms. Jones grabbed something off the sink and rubbed a stinging lotion on the bruise. "I'm surprised the skin wasn't broken." She put on two other lotions─a pale blue one and a red one─and slapped on a large, square-shaped bandage.

"What is all that stuff you were using?" Vivian asked.

"Oh, just some stuff I've picked up over the years. I travel around a lot, so I've collected quite a few different medicines and artifacts. I even have a flying carpet."

"Really? Do you fly on it?"

"Not really. Staying on isn't very easy, so I just use a car. Much safer."

"So . . . what do we do now?"

"We get ready for a party."

"A party? What about─" Vivian began, but Ms. Jones grabbed her good arm and dragged her out of the room. They walked down a hallway before reaching a blue door, which Ms. Jones opened. She hurried Vivian inside before slamming the door shut and stepping into a very untidy closet. For the next five minutes clothes flew out of the closet, creating a tall pile in front of the closet door. Finally, Ms. Jones left the closet, kicked the pile out of the way, and handed Vivian a black skirt and blue blouse. "Here. The skirt matches your hair, and the blouse is dark blue, so it should look okay."

"Wait─"

"Come downstairs when you're changed and I'll try to do something about all the knots in your hair." Then Ms. Jones left before Vivian could protest.

Vivian looked at the clothes she was holding. She was tempted to throw them back in the closet and then go after Ms. Jones, and make the woman understand that finding Nick was the most important thing right now. Vivian shook her head. If she wanted to find her brother, she would have to trust Kathleen Jones.

'''''''

'''''''

It wasn't until Ms. Jones had finished twisting Vivian's hair into a bun that the girl realized something was missing: Amadahy.

Bartimaeus seemed to have fallen asleep and was starting to look more like a large blob of essence than like the Egyptian boy. Vivian said his name and asked him to wake up, but he remained a motionless blob.

Ms. Jones stood up suddenly and threw a silver ring at the djinni. Bartimaeus immediately became a boy again and moved to the left, avoided the ring. "Are you trying to kill me?" the djinni growled. "If I hadn't woken up in time─"

"Don't be so dramatic," Ms. Jones interrupted, a small smile on her face. "You were awake the whole time."

The djinni glared at the woman before turning to Vivian. "What?"

"Where is Amadahy?"

"The smoke puff? She said not to worry. There's something she has to do."

"But where is she?"

The djinni shrugged. "I don't know. She just drifted through the keyhole and she hasn't returned."

"We have to go look for her!" Vivian cried. "If Necalli finds her, she won't stand a chance."

If Ms. Jones was worried, she didn't show it. "I'm sure she'll return. Now, let's go."

"No! Just because you're ready to forget about Amadahy and Nick doesn't mean I'm going to do the same!"

Ms. Jones looked a little surprised. "No one is forgetting about them, Vivian, but we can't do this alone. We need the help of a magician. That's why we're going to the party."

"A magician? But aren't you a magician?"

"I haven't summoned a spirit in over thirty years," Ms. Jones said, glancing at Bartimaeus. "What I meant was a person who works for the government."

"Don't you work for the government?" Vivian asked.

"No. What gave you that idea?"

"You knew my brother, didn't you? And you said he was a spy."

"I knew your parents. That's the only reason I knew Nick."

"Oh. So, what magician do you think can help us?" Vivian tried to steer the conversation away from her parents.

Ms. Jones grimaced. "The most immature thirty-two year old in the world: Roland Dedopulos."

--

Yes, I know nothing really happened in this chapter, but I'm hoping the next one will have some more action in it. Vivian hasn't seen Necalli in a while :) Maybe he'll show up.


	16. Chapter 16 Kitty

Kitty waited until Vivian and Bartiameus were in the car before slamming the door shut and trying to start up the piece of junk. It made a sound like an old man trying to dislodge a chicken bone from his throat, gave a small shudder, and was silent. Kitty turned the key again and got the same result.

"I guess you'll have to walk," the djinni said.

Kitty turned her head so she could glare at him with one narrowed eye. "If this car doesn't start, Bartimaeus, you will be _carrying _us to the party. So, you'd better pray it starts."

With that, she kicked her door open and stepped out of the car. She heard the djinni say something that sounded like, "I think she just gave me the look of Death. Scary."

Kitty ignored him and gave her car a kick in the side. It was only then she realized she was still wearing the same muddy boots she always wore. The ones with the steel-toed ones. She cursed. "I put another dent in the car!"

"You say it like you've done it before," the djinni called from the car.

"Shut up!" Kitty gave the car another kick, forgetting almost instantly about the boots she was wearing. "Make yourself useful, djinni, and turn the key."

When he didn't move, Kitty shot him another look. Bartimaeus turned the key.

Kitty gave it another kick and shouted, "Yes!" She punched the air when the car started. She gave it another, much gentler kick, and climbed back in, slamming the door so hard the whole car shook. "Let's go!"

With that, she tore out of driveway, narrowly missing a cat and another car along the way, and headed for Dedopulos's house. If that man didn't have a new car waiting for her there, he would be sorry. Very sorry. Kitty grinned. "I'll make sure of it."

'''''''

'''''''

"You're friend has too much money," the djinni said when they stopped in front of the magician's house.

The whole castle-sized mansion had a bunch of multicolored lights strung up on it. Lots of shiny cars with no dents were parked nearby. On the other side of the huge front lawn was a large herd of chatting magicians.

Kitty stepped out of the car and, without waiting for the girl and her djinni, walked towards the party. She doubted she could replace the disgusted look on her face with an enthusiastic one in time, so she didn't try.

"Kitty!" One of the magicians broke away from the herd and ran towards her. Her disgusted look turned into a look that a person being mummified alive might have. Minus the screaming, but the way she was feeling, that wasn't far behind.

"Now that's a face only a mother could love," Bartimaeus said, walking next to her. "You must really hate this guy."

"I do," Kitty growled.

"What did he do? Drop a house on your sister?"

"Kitty! Kitty, you came!" the magician cried, looking very happy.

Kitty felt Bartimaeus stiffen next to her, but she ignored him. "I came."

Roland stopped when he noticed Kitty's expression. "I'm really sorry about your car, Kitty. I made the imp do five hundred push-ups as punishment."

Who cares about the imp? "Did you buy me a new car?"

Roland's face lit up again. "Yeah! But you don't get it until it's time to open the presents."

"Presents? Plural? Meaning the car isn't the only thing I got?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. I made sure everyone only brought one."

"And how many people are here?"

"Oh, about ninety-six," the magician said.

Resist . . . urge . . . to kill . . . magician . . . scum. "I hope no one got me a house."

"No, but you are now the proud owner of the Great Pyramid of Giza."

Bartimaeus coughed. Vivian congratulated her. Kitty wished she'd brought the shuriken she'd bought in Japan two years ago. "Was that really necessary, Roland?" she growled.

"I tried to tell Dad that it was to much, but he wouldn't listen."

Maybe a kunai knife would work better. They were easier to use. "I'm not going to find a pyramid in my driveway tomorrow, am I?"

Roland laughed. "No. Dad wanted to ship it here, but I was able to talk him out of it."

"Does she own the Eiffel Tower, too?" Batimaeus asked, leaning forward.

Roland seemed to notice the djinni and Vivian for the first time. "Who are your friends, Kitty?"

"Vivian Gray and Bartimaeus."

"Gray?" Roland asked, starting to sound serious.

"Yes, Gray. Meaning─"

"And Bartimaeus! Aren't you dead?" Roland grabbed the djinni's hand and shook it up and down at a surprising speed. "I've always wanted to meet you! How did you escape? What happened to that magician─Mandrake─who was with you? Do you like champagne?"

Kitty sighed. This was going to be a _loooooong _night.

--

Okay, no Necalli in this one. And not a whole lot going on. sigh


	17. Chapter 17 Bartimaeus

I'm back! Sorry I haven't updated in almost a week or two short of a month. I got into the National Writer's Month thing and sort of forgot to update. Sorry again and I hope you like the chapter.

-----

One of the most annoying things about the magician was his appearance. Tall; black, messy hair; ridiculous-looking suit. An older, more chipper version of a certain irritating brat I used to know, but the resemblance was still unmistakable.

Once Dedopulos was done chattering he pranced away toward the crowd, glancing over his shoulder long enough to smile and call, "Hurry, Kitty! Don't want to miss the party, do you?" Judging by the look on her face, that was exactly what she wanted.

As we walked, I asked, "So. Is he related to Nat?"

"You noticed the resemblance."

"Hard to miss."

Kitty nodded, looking thoughtful. "It's just coincidence."

"When two people look that similar, it usually means they're related."

"He's the prime minister's son, Bartimaeus."

"Is there any chance that he _is_ Nathaniel?"(1)

"No. Even if he had survived, he would about as old as me now. Roland is twenty years too young."

Now I was the one looking thoughtful. "Only in appearance," I muttered.

"I think the prime minister─certainly Roland─would know if he was Mandrake," Kitty snapped. "Walk faster. The faster we get this over with, the better."

I complied, simply because I couldn't think of a reason to argue right now. A few yards away from the crowd, something occurred to me. I glanced behind me. Vivian was covering about two feet a minute, and was clearly lost in thought.

I was busy deciding if I should send a tiny Detonation her way to wake her up, so I didn't realize Kitty had stopped walking until I walked right into her. Like the brat, she was also lost in thought, but her thoughts were probably murderous. I followed her gaze to a large platform.

No wonder she was murderous.

Nat's not-twin was standing on the platform, waving a branch at invisible enemies, and shouting random/somewhat personal stuff about Kitty.

"I didn't know you were born in November."

A shrug was my only answer.

"Or that you've broken Dedopulos's nose five times."

"He deserved it."

"I'm sure he did. Why don't you go break it a sixth time? I think I heard your social security number somewhere in there."(2)

"How does he even know it?" the girl/woman muttered and began shoving her way through the crowd. As I watched her, I had to wonder which she was: woman or girl. She seemed to be both, but neither. Her little trip to the Other Place really had changed her. It seemed that while her body aged, her mind remained that of a somewhat rebellious teenager. As if the way it had weakened her hadn't been enough.

''''''''''

''''''''''

"I'm sorry about your social security number."

"You should be."

"Are you still angry?"

"Furious, actually, but I'm trying not to hit you again."

"Why _did _you hit me?"

"I already answered that."

I twirled a wineglass around on the table while the two chatted. Dedopulos was holding an ice pack to his right eye where Kitty had punched him in front of ninety-six magicians, and the prime minister who, as I have recently learned is not a magician. Apparently only "normal" people can be prime minister these days.

"So, why are you here?" the magician placed his glass(3) on the table. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and smoothed his hair back in a familiar way. His expression became one of arrogance, and his eyes got a look that resembled pity when he looked at Kitty.

How annoying. He looked like the boy, and had the worst parts of his personality. Meaning all of his personality, until the end anyway.

"Vivian, Nick Gray's sister, commands a djinni who has Nafre's Amulet," Kitty answered, sitting up in her chair. I could just about feel the tension in the air between them.

Dedopulos's eyes lit up. "Really? What about the Twin? Where is it?"

"In Egypt, if my research is correct. Bartimaeus?"

"Sounds right. It was buried with King Khufu, of the fourth dynasty─"

"Whose body was never found," Dedopulos interrupted. "Very helpful, demon."

"Khufu feared robbers, so he had his priests bury an empty sarcophagus and a small portion of his wealth in the King's Chamber. _He_, the mummy, is buried about a mile away from the pyramid in an underground chamber that _I _helped build. That is also where the Twin is buried."

"What is so special about the Twin?" Kitty asked. "I couldn't find anything about what it was used for in my research.

"It has amazing healing powers. If I remember correctly, it can cure anything short of a severed head. If you've lost you brains, not even the Twin can help you."

"And why is it called the Amulet's Twin?"

"Partly because it's just as powerful, and partly because the two tend to travel together."

"Yes. Until a certain djinni tossed it into Lake Texcoco," the magician said, his face twisted into an ugly sneer. How had he gone from a brainless school boy to an almost perfect copy of Nat? It was like talking to two different people.

"Blame your kind," I said. "It was a magician who decided to be stupid, not me."

"Enough," Kitty said in that voice that just compelled you to shut up and listen. "Roland, get a plane ready. We're going to Egypt."

"I have two questions first."

"What?"

"First, where is this djinni that possesses the Amulet?"

"We lost her," I said cheerfully. "Can't say I was sorry to─"

"Second, where is the girl?"

Kitty and me both froze at the same time. I don't think either of us had noticed her absence until now. "Um, we seem to have lost her, too," Kitty said.

"A shame." Dedopulos rose from his chair arrogantly, spun around arrogantly, and sighed arrogantly. "We will have to leave them here. Once we have the Twin, we can return."

"We can't leave Vivian here! There's a marid after her!" Kitty shot out of her chair, looking like she was going to give the magician another black eye.

And then he transformed again. "Don't worry, Kitty! I'll order the police to search to city," Dedopulos said, sounding excited. "Now, let's go treasure hunting!"

----

**1. Stupid question, I know. I knew the answer but I still felt compelled to check. Believe it or not, I **_**have **_**been wrong before. On very rare occasions.**

**2.2235 . . .Oops. Forget I said that.**

**3. It was full of milk. Who drinks milk out of a wineglass? There was no way this guy was related to Nathaniel in any way.**


	18. Chapter 18 Vivian

I know my chapters are kinda (too) short, so I tried to make this one longer. Not sure if I succeeded. Hope you enjoy chapter 18!

----

The crowd surged forward when Ms. Jones's fist connected with Mr. Dedopulos's face, knocking him off the platform. Bartimaeus disappeared and Vivian was shoved to the edge of the throng. She sat down on the grass and tried moving her arm. With some difficulty she was able to curl her fingers into a loose fist. What could Necalli have cut to cause this? Maybe some nerves, but in that case her arm wouldn't slowly be regaining feeling, would it?

She barely registered it when someone sat down next to her. She pinched the skin between two of her fingers and a ghost of a smile flickered across her face when she felt a dull sting. At least it wasn't permanent.

The arm of whoever was sitting next to her wrapped around her shoulders. "Having fun, sis?"

Vivian's head snapped up and she stared into a pair of brown eyes that were identical to hers, although a lot more tired-looking. "Nick!" she shouted and flung herself at him, her good arm winding around his neck. "Nick! What happened? Where have you been? How did you get back? Are you alright?"

"One question at a time, Vivy," her brother said, his voice very tired but carrying a hint of joy. "I'm just fine."

Vivian frowned. A beard was starting to form on his normally shaven face; his hair was turning a little gray although he was still just in his twenties; and the biggest change, his eyes and voice, clearly told her that he was _not _alright. "You're lying." She became aware of another unwelcome change: he was shaking with the effort of sitting up with her clinging to him.

Her brother had never been particularly muscular, but he was still strong enough to lift her, even at her current age. She was small and rather bony, so it didn't take much effort to hold her. Nick _should not _be shaking from such a small effort.

"When was the last time you ate?" Vivian snapped, switching into her rare mother mode. She felt his side and found that she could feel every one of his ribs through the thin white shirt he was wearing.

Nick flinched at her touch. "Stop that, sis. I'm fine. I came to bring Amadahy."

"Ama─"

A weak voice came from behind Nick. "Miss Gray."

Nick shifted away to reveal a small clay jar with a silver lid. He pulled the lid off and a marble sized blob of some grease like substance drifted out. Amadahy. The djinni slowly drifted towards Vivian and let herself rest on her master's lap. The grease gave a tired sigh, and seemed to go to sleep. It was hard to tell since it didn't have a face. "Is that silver?" Vivian asked unnecessarily. She already knew.

"Sorry, sis." Vivian barely heard him. Her eyes were looking from Amadahy to the jar to Nick and back at a surprising speed.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Her voice wasn't happy anymore. It wasn't even motherly. It was full of sudden hate for her brother. The feeling surprised her as much as it did him.

"Vivy─"

"Enough with the 'Vivy'! Answer my question! What. Are. You. _Doing_?" The last word was an octave or two higher than the others.

"Sorry─"

"Enough with the 'sorry', too! What the [insert favorite cuss word] have you been doing?"

"I─"

"Sorry to interrupt, but this is taking too long." A black widow spider crawled down Nick's face and rested on his shoulder. There it became a kitten-sized gorilla with red fur and very sharp fangs. Nick's thin frame shook and his face paled. "Remember me? Necalli?"─the blob of grease let out a barely audible curse in something that sounded like Aztec─"Well, dear Nicky here is my new partner. Has been for the past─what's it been? A month? Two? Anyway, your brother has been very useful to my masters. They couldn't believe their luck when they caught such a knowledgeable British spy. It seems that the Czechs are finally getting serious about defeating the Brits. Lovely. I _love _wars and I've been promised a lead in the conquering of this lovely empire.

"Now, I know you are very fond of that little stain, so we've come to make you a deal. She possesses the Amulet, and I think your friends will soon figure out where the Twin is. We can't get the Amulet right now without damaging it, so we need some help. While your buddies are busy searching for the old pharaoh's burial chamber, I want you to look─" The marid was cut off by Vivian's sudden slap, which sent it flying off of her brother's shoulder and into a bush.

The grease flew at Vivian's face. "Run," it choked out.

Then Necalli's leathery fingers were wrapping around her slender neck and pulling her to her feet. The little kitten-sized red gorilla had suddenly become a very angry bull-sized red gorilla with the fangs of a sabertooth tiger. Its foul breath blasted Vivian in the face, making her stomach twist in disgust. Behind it, Vivian could see Nick rising unsteadily to his feet. His eyes were full of fear; wether it was for Vivian or himself, she didn't know, nor did she care at the moment. She was focused on the monsters other hand, which held Amadahy.

"That wasn't very nice," Necalli sighed. "Now, are you willing to listen, or should I just squash this pathetic little blob right now?"

"I'll listen," Vivian choked out, the marid's breath almost causing her to pass out. Had this guy never heard of a toothbrush?!

"Lovely. Now, as I was saying before: While your buddies are busy searching for Mr. Bandages, I want you to look for a door with a snake painted on it. Once there I want you to activate this"─some kind of necklace was slipped over her head. It had a powerful aura─"with a little drop of blood. Doesn't matter whose. Me and Nicky 'll be there in a flash. Literally. Then, while we set up a special little pentacle, you have to summon something using the pentacles that are already there. Got it?"

"What do you want me to summon?" Vivian gasped, trying not to breathe.

"I take it you know who Nouda was? Ramuthra?"

Vivian nodded. "I hope you don't plan on having me summon Ramuthra."

"Of course not. That would be unreasonable for one such as you." Necalli grinned, his five-foot fangs millimeters from her face. "What you have to summon makes him look like a stuffed animal."

Vivian glanced at Nick with wide eyes. He looked away. Fine. She didn't need him anymore. After so many years of depending on him for almost everything, she was done. "You must be crazy." Vivian's face twisted into an ugly sneer that was very un-Vivianish. "Why don't you ask Nicholas over there?" She felt some satisfaction in seeing him flinch.

"He is"─the marid eyed Nick's scrawny frame─"was powerful, but you're stronger. Much stronger. Your aura made my essence shiver the first time I saw you. Your parents however didn't have any potential at all. Incredible that they should create one like you.

"Anyway, we've been here too long. These two are the only family you have left, so I suppose you will accept this offer. Am I correct?"

"Yeah, sure. If you promise to never bother Amadahy again after this." As an afterthought she added, "and don't kill _him_." She nodded at her brother. His face paled again.

"Nice negotiating with you," Necalli said.

He flung the girl to the ground and stuffed Amadahy into a pouch in his belly. "Don't take too long or I might not be able to guarantee their safety." The marid grabbed the back of Nick's shirt and sprouted a pair of wings which he used to speed away, over the top of Dedopulos's house, and out of sight.

Fifteen minutes later, Kitty Jones, Roland Dedopulos, and Bartimaeus exited the house and found Vivian sitting in a white lawn chair. "Are you okay?" Ms. Jones asked. "We thought you had disappeared, too."

Vivian smiled softly. "I'm fine. Sorry to worry you."

The Egyptian boy seemed to be sniffing the air. "Was there a marid here?" he asked suspiciously.

Vivian's mask didn't drop for a second. "I think one of the guests summoned one when Kathleen punched Roland. Nothing to worry about."

Bartimaeus didn't look convinced. "A guest summoned a marid on the spot like that?"

"I thought it was Necalli at first, too," Vivian answered with the smile still on her face.

The djinni's eyes darkened. "I never said it was."

Vivian ignored the comment and leaped to her feet. "So, shall we go to Egypt?"

She knew the djinni's midnight gaze never left her back once as she pranced to Kitty's car, fake smile still on her face.


	19. Chapter 19 Bartimaeus

"She's lying," I said simply, still staring at the prancing girl.

"Obviously," Kitty said. "But I'm sure there is a reason. Just leave her alone for now."

"That marid was definitely here. His aura is all over the place . . . smells like slugs . . . and a monkey's fart . . . disgusting." I wrinkled my nose to make my point. "Worse than Faquarl."

"We should just force it out of her!" Dedopulos exclaimed, smoothing his hair back.

"What?" I asked, trying not to grimace, but failing.

"The truth, of course! I have many terrifying entities under my control that I can summon with a wave."

That line sounded oddly familiar. I adopted a thoughtful expression. Where had I heard it before? Solomon, perhaps? No, although he could summon quite a few spirits with a wave. Ramses? He _did _have a rather large (planet-sized) ego. It still didn't sound right though . . . Nathaniel! That was it! I wasn't sure when he'd said it, but it sounded very Nathaniel-ish. Must have been him.

I shot the man─who Kitty was now tugging forward by his tie (which was covered in little smiley faces) and lecturing about respect for spirits─an uneasy glance. If I didn't know any better, I would say he _was _Nathaniel. But that was impossible. The boy was dead, and Dedopulos was too young.

Maybe something happened when the Staff broke . . .

I shook my head. Not even the Staff could bring back the dead.

". . . Bartimaeus!" Kitty's voice shouted right in my ear.

"What?" I snapped, rubbing my ear.

"Don't just stand there," the girl, er, woman snapped right back.

I followed her to the car, where Vivian and Dedopulos started a game of tic-tac-toe with some of the scrap paper in Kitty's car, and a pen that the brat made me go back to the house to get.

When we reached Kitty's house, I had to help with some packing. Apparently Kitty liked to be prepared when traveling. Guess who had to carry the two (very heavy) suitcases to the car? That's right. _Moi_.

The brat and the clone (as I had started to think of Dedopulos) played tic-tac-toe all the way to the airport. And during the very exhausting trip to Egypt. When we finally turned in at the rundown hotel in Alexandria, they continued playing until Kitty yelled at them to shut up and go to sleep. The final score? Vivian 3990, Dedopulos 10.

This is what I call small brain capacity. They had played the same dumb game for _over twenty-four hours straight_! By the time all they had finished, _I _felt stupid! It was like some contagious disease!

Once all the humans were asleep and dreaming, I flew up to the roof and sat there, considering everything that had changed. There were bright lights everywhere and cars zooming down countless roads. Why did humans feel the need to build these places everywhere? Couldn't they just leave things the way they were? Egypt had been a lovely (although rather lifeless, like most deserts) place. Unique, like many ancient civilization. And like many ancient civilizations, it had been ruined by another, more powerful empire. At least the moon was still the same. Big, bright, and full.

"Annoying, aren't they?" Kitty was climbing up the rusty ladder on the side of the hotel. I ask you. How many fifty-year-old women can climb up on a roof without breaking a sweat?

"Dedopulos and my new little master? Yep. Very annoying," I answered, still staring at the moon. Kitty sat down next to me and followed my gaze.

"Does it look the same as it did when Ptolemy was around?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Five or six more craters. Otherwise, no."

"How do you know how many craters are on the moon?"

"It's called boredom."

"You counted all of them?"

"Yep."

"Huh." Now she was staring at the surface of the roof, looking thoughtful. "So . . . eh, why are you up here?"

"'Cause the whole room smells like human." I studied her out of the corner of my eye. She looked tense. And thoughtful. "So, any other questions?" Her eyes darkened. I'd been right.(1)

"Why are you still alive?"

I blinked. "Any reason I shouldn't be?" I had a feeling I knew what this was about.

"Nathaniel died . . ." she began. Bingo.

"Go on," I said when she didn't continue.

She hesitated only a moment longer. "Why are you still alive? You were stuck inside Nathaniel, right? You should have died, too. There wasn't any way for you to get out. And he died. Why didn't you? You shouldn't─"

"You're sounding like a broken record, deary," I interrupted, turning back to the moon. "He dismissed me before he died. Said he was worried I'd mess the whole Break-Staff-at-right-time-to-kill-Nouda thing.(2) Said I 'generally managed to cock things up'. His exact words. An ungrateful brat to the very end."

"So you didn't abandon him." Kitty sighed, looking somewhat relieved. "Good."

I snorted. "As you yourself said, there was no way for me to get out of that disgusting lump of flesh. Still can't believe I let you talk me into doing something so unhygienic."

Kitty smiled a little and began to climb back down. "He says, 'Hello'"

"What?" Kitty stopped her descent.

"Nathaniel. Asked me to say hello to you for him. So, 'Hello'"

"Oh. Okay, thanks for the message. Goodnight, Bartimaeus."

"Goodnight."

1.I'm always right, as we all know.

2. Cheeky brat. After all I'd done for him. Most of it unwillingly, but still.


	20. Chapter 20 Vivian

A soft breeze threatened to blow out the carefully arranged candles. Vivian glared up at the sky fro a moment, daring the wind to interfere, before continuing her sketching. There was no chance of rain or any other bad weather in this place, but the wind was certainly a nuisance. Vivian scanned her work, fixing a rune here and a line there. Then she made sure the candles were all still lit, and began the summoning. At one point, she thought she'd mispronounced a word in Greek and almost stopped to repeat, but that would most likely have caused a rather nasty problem when the spirit she was summoning showed up. _Besides, _she told herself. _If there's a break and the spirit attacks, I have Bartimaeus to help out._

After she was done, Vivian waited, tapping her foot impatiently, and trying not start pacing. Then . . . _Bang! _Vivian inhaled some of the bitter, yellow smoke and started coughing. She glanced at the house, worried that the sound would alert her companions to her activities.

"Would you keep the special effects to a minimum?" the girl snapped, waving the thick smoke out of her face.

"How unfriendly," a voice sighed. "But, it's to be expected from a magician."

The smoke cleared and Vivian found herself staring at a hummingbird. The thing flitted around inside its pentacle continuously, stopping just millimeters short of the sides.

"I would've thought that a favorite of the Ming, Zhou, and Han dynasties would choose something more terrifying than a Blue-throated Hummingbird," Vivian said.

"Oh, you know the species. Good, good," the afrit said. "Latin name?"

"_Lampornis clemenciae_," Vivian answered after a short pause. _Maybe I should have summoned another one. I don't have time for trivia games right now. _Unfortunately, it was the only way to get this spirit to do as she asked without going through a lot of trouble first. Fengge was known for serving his masters without question, but only if they were "intellectual equals", as he put it. He was also known for bringing great misfortune to those who he considered inferior

"Good. It's so hard to find intelligent young humans these days." The afrit did a little somersault. "Now then, what it . . . the capital of Mali?"

"Bamako."

Ten or eleven minutes later, the afrit asked it's last question. "Say a random phrase in Chinese."

Vivian thought for a moment before grinning. She said the phrase she had come up with, careful to pronounce every word correctly. The afrit chuckled. "'Fengge the afrit is a fool who asks too many questions', huh? Well, now I know what you think of me."

"I normally try not to waste time," Vivian said.

"Hey, we all have our quirks," Fenggesaid. "I like intelligent masters, and give idiots a hard time. You, obviously, are far too serious for a thirteen-year-old girl, and will die young because of stress."

Vivian didn't bother to correct him about her age.

"Fengge, I request that accompany me to Khufu's pyramid. You will keep yourself hidden from all humans and spirits, on all planes, including the ones I'm traveling with. At our destination, you will leave my side and search for a door with a snake painted on it. Once you have found it, you are to come get me immediately, and take me to this door as fast as possible. After that, I will dismiss you."

If the afrit found the "I request" part strange, he didn't say so.

"That's fine with me," the he said. "How about I become a silk worm and hide, eh, in your hair?"

"That's fine. Just make sure you're a silk worm on six planes," Vivian answered.

"You got some other spirits under your control?"

"Two, I suppose, but only one of them will be coming with us. I believe he has access to all seven planes, so be careful."

"No problem, boss" The humming bird left the pentacle and appeared on Vivian's head, where it became a silk worm. Vivian shivered a little. She'd never been very fond of insects.

Suddenly exhausted, Vivian crept back into the hotel through the back door. The small room they had gotten (by using the little Egyptian money they had) was filled with the sound of Dedopulos's snoring. There was no sign of Bartimaeus, and Vivian was to tired to care about where he had gone, or what he was doing. She crawled into bed, and fell asleep instantly. Her dreams were full of teachers that turned into giant silk worms, and garbage dumps full of Necalli-gorillas that chased her and Amadahy, in her wolf form, around.

'''''''''''''

'''''''''''''

"Vivian, you look exhausted!" Ms. Jones said that morning, as they ate breakfast. Well, Ms. Jones and Dedopulos were eating. Bartimaeus was scratching something (rude, most likely) into the table's surface in hieroglyphs. The silk worm was probably coming up with some complicated calculus equation to ask its next master. Vivian simply didn't find the food appetizing. If the condition of the restaurant was anything to go by, then the food was probably toxic. They were the only people in here, and had only been allowed to pay with British currency because the manager hoped that letting the owner of Khufu's pyramid (aka Kitty Jones) eat at the little shack would boost its popularity. Doubtful.

"Oh, I'm just worried," Vivian answered.

"Of course you are," Ms. Jones said sympathetically.

"So," Bartimaeus began, apparently done scratching messages. "How do we get to Cairo?"

"What do you mean?" Ms. Jones asked.

"We're in Alexandria."

"Yes."

"And Khufu's pyramid is near Cairo."

"Right."

"So, we need to get to Cairo."

"We'll just get a cab or something," Dedopulos said, touching the eye that Ms. Jones had punched. It was very black.

"Wonderful. I hope they have cabs that take British money and that are willing to travel that far."

"Kitty can just tell them who she is, and they'll let us ride free."

"Doubtful." The djinni whispered something to Ms. Jones. It must have been funny, because she giggled like a school girl.

"Why don't we get some camels?" Fengge whispered in Vivian's ear. The girl's face grew several shades paler.

Bartimaeus looked up. "What did you say?" he asked.

"Uh, why don't we get camels. We can, uh, ride them to Cairo."

"So . . . you don't mind spending a week or two in the desert."

"Uh . . ."

"During the dry season?"

"Well . . ."

"Then why doesn't Bartimaeus turn into a Chinese dragon and fly us there?" the afrit whispered.

Vivian repeated the question quickly. "Carry you?" Bartimaeus said. "Well, I suppose, but do you really want to risk giving a poor, old man a stroke?"

"You can fly in the clouds," Ms. Jones suggested.

"I suppose . . ."

"Then it's settled!" Dedopulos announced, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "We are going to Cairo on the back of this lowly demon." Then, more quietly, he added, "I deserve better."

Bartimaeus and Ms. Jones turned cold glares on Dedopulos. "Be polite," the woman said as the djinni said, "You want to walk?"

The magician held up his hands in surrender, hair flopping back in his face. "Okay, okay. I'll be good. Now, let's go to Cairo!"

"Cheers!" Bartimaeus muttered, obviously not very thrilled by the idea.


	21. Chapter 21 Bartimaeus

Sorry I've been updating so slowly. Inspiration just seems to have slowed for some reason. I've already started working on Ch. 22, so I _think _I'll be able to get it done in a few days. 'Think' being the keyword. So, yeah. Enjoy. And sorry my chapters are so short. I've been trying to add more description, but thats never been one of my strong points.

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Egypt. So different since my time here, yet it still had a homey feel to it. The scenery was unchanging: sand as far as the eye could see. I spotted the occasional oasis as I lugged the humans across the desert. I purposely flew at cloud-level, where it was nice and cold. I hoped the silk worm(1) and the two unworthy primates on my back froze. I made sure to keep Kitty's seat fairly warm.

But that wasn't the only reason I was flying so high.

Back in Alexandria, where I'd left my rude hieroglyphic message I'd noticed some slimy little imps watching and following us. As I transformed in the extremely small alley Kitty had found, I'd made sure to squash most of them. One may have escaped, so I was just being thorough. And a little mean because I was feeling rather irritated.

"Hey, Barty?" Kitty called.

"What?"

"How much longer until we reach the pyramid?"

"A few hours, unless we go faster."

"Then go faster!"

"It will get colder." I tried not to sound too hopeful.

"It isn't so bad. Go ahead."

Dedopulos and my very young and inexperienced master would most likely have protested, if they weren't already frozen solid. So, I accelerated slightly more than necessary. It occurred to me that I could probably let the little twerp freeze to death, and then I would be free. But then I thought of how disappointed Kitty would be. Not to mention she'd fall to her death when I disappeared.

As I descended slightly, I silently brooded about the fact that I seemed to be getting _soft. _

''''''''''

''''''''''

About ten minutes before we arrived at our destination, I felt some unpleasant prickling on my tail. The prickling slowly crept forward, soon becoming a sharp pain. I whipped my head around, smoke blowing out of my nostrils.

Thousands of little mites were following behind, boarding the dragon by the handful. This caused some problems in balance, which resulted in problems flying. Thanks to my refrigerated passengers, I couldn't just whip my tail about until I knocked the little pests off.

"Is something wrong?" Kitty asked.

"Maybe. Look behind you."(2)

I didn't hear what Kitty said next. I was too busy trying to steer with the extra weight.

I was able to stay in the air until the little creatures started eating away at my tail, making it shorter. I suddenly thought of the movie known simply as _The Mummy. _The mites were like those scarabs. Only there were twice as many as them.

One Chinese dragon, one screaming human, two frozen humans, and a silk worm plummeted to Earth, followed by a mixture of silver essence and buzzing little insects.

''''''''''

''''''''''

Now, sand is soft. But when you hit it at about ninety miles an hour, it feels as hard as rock. I managed to slow us down some by sprouting a pair of wings in time. Unfourtuntly, the mites managed to eat away enough of one wing that it became useless, and the other snapped under all the weight.

Being the abused servant that I am, I provided a sort of scaly cushion for my passengers. At this point all I could throw up was a Shield full of little wobbly bits. It wouldn't have provided a very effective defense, so it's a good thing the mites decided to fly off. With a sigh, I shrank down to Ptolemy's smaller form . . .

. . . and was nearly crushed to death by the idiots laying of top of me. I groaned and shoved them off. Kitty I was more careful with. I swear it was instinctive. I really was going soft.

"Are you okay?" Kitty asked, rubbing sand out of her eyes and shaking it out of her ears. The stuff was swirling all around us. Anyone within 100 miles probably thought a really big sandstorm had kicked up all of a sudden.

"My back feels all chewed up." I wonder why? "Other than that, I'm peachy."

"Where are Viv and Roland?"

I waved a hand in the general direction I'd thrown them. "Somewhere over there. Leave them alone. They need to defrost."

With Kitty's help, I managed to sit up for a full five seconds. Those mites had chewed away quite a bit of my strength along with my essence. Kitty and me waited there for about an hour before the other two decided to make an appearance.

They slowly staggered towards us, coughing and wheezing, trying to dislodge the sand from their lungs. Dedopulos's hair was now just a bunch of clumps stuck together with sand, melted ice, and what appeared to be sweat. Disgusting. Vivian's hairdo wasn't anymore sanitary, and I thought I heard some angry mutters coming from its depths. Both of their clothes were ruined. Kitty looked rather out of place, being the only one that hadn't been chewed by mites, nor thrown several yards across the hot desert by an annoyed Egyptian boy.

"Hello over there," I called, waving rather weakly. Although I didn't feel as bad as I did after my prolonged enslavement under a certain magician, I still felt pretty bad. I just wanted to sleep . . .

"What happened?" Vivian asked between coughs.

"We were attacked by mites," Kitty answered. "Then we crashed."

"So," Dedopulos began, switching to Arrogant Jerk Mode. "The mighty Bartimaeus was defeated by _mites._"

"I didn't see you helping," Kitty snapped. "What about all those spirits you said you could summon with the wave of a hand?"

Kitty blinked and stared at me.

There was silence for several moments. I think everyone realized that I was the one who should have made that comment, but instead I was silent. Silent as the grave. Not a good omen. Normally, I would have been tempted to stuff the man's ugly grining face into the sand, and probably would have had Kitty not been there, but I just didn't care at the moment. That's when the humans' slow brains finally processed what had happened.

We were stranded in the desert without any food or water.

The Dragon Airlines were currently out of commission, so there was no transportation. (3)

Cairo was about four miles of scorpion, snake, and jackal infested desert away.

The sun was setting.

We were in really big trouble. The kind of trouble that makes rulers abandon their countries. The kind of trouble that causes even the most respectable magician to break down and weep. The kind of trouble that . . . well, you get the point. Big trouble.

And if the scimitar-wielding guys on the camels and horses were more than a mirage created by my rather worn out mind, then we were in the kind of trouble that had resulted in the sinking of Atlantis.(4)

----------

**1. Yeah, that's right. I knew about the afrit Vivian had summoned. And she thought she was so clever, hiding him in her hair. As if I, Bartimaeus, could be fooled so easily.**

**2. "Yeah, we're all going to die. Sorry Kitty," was actually what I wanted to say, but I saw no need to worry her. Her poor, old heart might not be able to handle it. . . don't tell her I said that.**

**3. Dear Vivian probably wouldn't reveal the afrit unless she absolutely needed to.**

**4.** **The humans were on their own, because I chose that moment to start a very long, restive nap, from which I may not awaken. At least I wouldn't feel any pain.**


	22. Chapter 22 Kitty

When the djinni's eyes flickered closed, Kitty felt a moment of panic. The fall couldn't have damaged him that much, could it? He was a djinni. She considered the many bites on his body that were seeping silver essence. Those didn't seem that serious either. They were probably just very annoying.

This was Bartimaeus, after all. He had been shot at, stabbed, crushed, and gone through many other unpleasant experiences. There was no way a flock of mites could seriously injure him, was there? Kitty's eyes narrowed. Was he just pretending? Laughing to himself as he listened to her getting all worked up over nothing? If he was, she'd make him wish he was facing twenty golems instead.

Remembering something Baritmaeus had said before, when she had asked if he was okay, Kitty yanked him into a sitting position, forgetting that it is best to be gentle with the injured, and examined his back. She bit back a gasp. He really was chewed up! The sand underneath had actually been turned silver.

"Um, Kitty?" Roland said quietly, his voice shaking. "We have a problem."

"I know. Look what those mites did to Barti-" She trailed off when she turned and saw the problem Roland was talking about.

They were very surrounded by men on sand-colored camels. Each one held a very sharp, curved sword in their hand. Unless she was mistaken, they were scimitars. Kitty knew she wasn't. "Hi," she said quietly, raising a hand in greeting.

The guy on the biggest camel, who Kitty quickly realized was in fact a gal, chattered something in Arabic, and pointed at the unconscious djinni, who had begun to snore.

"She said-" Roland began.

"I know what she said," Kitty snapped. Then in Arabic, she answered, "He's my, uh, nephew."

"Why is his blood silver?" the woman asked, dark brown eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"That's blood from the, uh, little demons that attacked us."

"Why are you four out here? In the middle of the desert."

"We were traveling to Cairo."

"On foot?" the woman said, one eyebrow forming an impressive arch.

"Uh, yeah," Kitty said, smiling nervously.

"With no food or water or camels?"

Kitty nodded.

"You are all mad," the woman concluded.

"It was his idea," Kitty said, pointing at Dedopulos.

"Wha-" Vivian's hand cutoff his complaint. The girl smiled and said, "My Uncle Roland has always been very crazy. He's always dragging Aunt Kathleen, my brother, and myself about to dangerous places without preparing first."

"Yes, yes. It's as she says," Kitty agreed, wondering where the child had learned Arabic. Her accent wasn't as controlled as Kitty's, but she didn't mispronounce a single word.

"So . . . he is your _brother_?" The woman didn't look like she believed a word they were saying. "What is his name?"

"Barry," Vivian said.

"Barney," Kitty said.

"Button," Roland said, then glanced at his companions and mouthed, "Oops."

The woman's eyebrows arched. This time, however, the arch was upside down. Not a good sign. "Lies," she said simply, and pulled out a nasty little dagger. She tossed it into the air.

Kitty's heart did the tango as she watched the blade sail through the air . . . and land where the djinni's head had been a moment before. Curled up a few feet away was a skinny gray cat with a sleepy expression on its face. It blinked its deep blue eyes a few times, yawned, and buried its nose in its tail. It began to snore.

"Demons!" the Scimitar Lady hissed, then said something that had the rest of the Scimitar People shouting and dismounting their camels.

Kitty grabbed the djinni by the tail. _Time to go, _she thought, slinging him over her shoulder. She looked around, spotted a little opening in the circle of angry natives, and rushed forward.

She had been planning to simply dodge around them, grab a camel, and then come up with a way to get her companions out of there without any fatalities occurring.

Then one of the men did something unspeakable. Something so horrible that Kitty came to a screeching halt.

He said to one of his buddies, "I'll take the grandmother. You take the guy with the bad hairdo and the kid."

A vein pulsed in Kitty's temple. _Grandmother? _

The angriest grandmother the man had ever seen let out something akin to a battle cry, flung the cat into the air, and blew a gust of air from her nostrils. She almost looked like an angry bull about to charge one of does idiots that made a living of waving red capes in front of half-rabid animals and then killing them, unless the men ended up the victims themselves, which was soon to be the case. Kitty actually saw red for a moment.

The half-rabid grandmother charged.

The man suddenly found himself lying on the ground with only a very vague recollection of who he was, and an urge to live the rest of his life peacefully as a Buddhist monk on some far off mountain.

Kitty accomplished all this and mounted a camel, and still had enough time to catch the cat by the tail before it fell. "I _am not _a grandmother," she said with an insulted sniff. "Let that be a lesson to you, young pup."

The irritated woman grabbed the reins of two other camels and pulled them over to Vivian and Roland. She thought she heard some clapping coming from Vivian's head, but she must have imagined it. "Get on," she growled. The Scimitar People were circling them warily now, but who knew how long it would take one of them to build up the courage to chance an attack.

"That was amazing, Kitty!" Roland breathed, eyes looking at her admiringly.

"Of course it was," Kitty sniffed. "I'm the one who did it." She was feeling rather arrogant. "Here. Catch." She tossed the cat to Vivian and turned her own camel around. A few warning glances kept the men, along with their red-faced leader, at bay. Until they were clear and on their way to Khufu's Pyramid.

Kitty sat up extra straight and closed her eyes so she could relive her moment of glory.

'''''''''''

'''''''''''

The trip certainly wasn't pleasant. The first morning they woke up to find themselves covered in a thick coating of sand, and Roland found a scorpion tangled in his hair.

"Poor thing," Bartimaeus said, clearly feeling much better.

Then, that afternoon, they'd encountered a flock of locusts. The insects crawled into their clothes, their open mouthes, their hair. Any who crawled into Vivian's hair would suddenly shoot back out; a leg or antenna would often be missing. The terrified creature would then fly away very quickly. Only the animals had nothing to fear, not having clothes to deal with, and knowing better than to open their mouths.

Once the living storm had passed, the humans started jumping around like deranged rabbits while the djinni sunned itself on a camel's back and laughed. Then, when Roland started doing a funny little jig and shrieking like a little girl and narrating what the locusts were crawling into, Kitty threw her boot at him and knocked him out cold.

"Inappropriate!" she shouted, resisting the urge to start doing the same jig. "There is a child among us!"

Bartimaeus was clearly enjoying himself the whole time. He managed to dodge the flying boot-missile.

By the time they got their first sight of the pyramid, Kitty was gnashing her teeth. The sun was setting and she thought she heard hyenas laughing somewhere in the darkness. Bartimaeus had been singing Kumbaya for the last ten minutes, Roland was still unconscious and snoring, and Vivian's brain seemed to be fried; she was muttering to herself. And, as if that weren't enough, she could still feel locusts crawling around in her clothes, or maybe it was her imagination. She wasn't sure.

There were guards near the pyramid. They narrowly avoided being converted to Buddhism because one of them recognized Kitty, or, at least, the Monster from the Black Lagoon (complete with bloodshot, glaring eyes) that had once been Kitty.

"This is it?" the exhausted woman said, touching the pyramid's rough surface.

"Yep," the cat answered.

"Do they have a shower installed here?"

"Nope."

"Ah." With that breathtaking bit of articulation, Kitty slid off her camel and fell asleep on the desert floor. She spent her time in Dreamland whacking Kumbaya-singing cats, jig-dancing doppelgängers, and Scimitar People with a huge mallet.


	23. Chapter 23 Bartimaeus

23 is up! I guess that's kind of obvious though, isn't it? You wouldn't be here if it wasn't. So, anyway, I didn't mean to take so long to update, but my computer died, and after it was resurrected, I had to retype this. Then I remembered I had a backup thingy, and spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to combine the original with the new one. It's a good thing I did, too, because the original was only, like, 700 words. So . . . yeah. Read on.

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A cheerful little beam of sunlight managed to wiggle its way through the gap in the curtains. It made the mistake of falling on the face of Kitty Jones. The woman's eyes snapped open and I swear the lightbeam shivered and got dimmer. Two days of rest and nice, hot showers obviously hadn't done much to improve her rather foul mood. I shrank down to a smaller size.

"Bartimaeus?" Kitty growled, rising into a sitting position in much the same way a vampire would rise from its coffin.

"Yes?" I squeaked.

Her eyes scanned the room. A few dust bunnies that didn't get out of the way in time rolled over on their backs and died.

"Where are you?"

"Here." The scarab beetle on the other bed where Vivian was sleeping (1) waved one of legs somewhat reluctantly.

"Did I just wake up?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because I dreamed I was still in the middle of no where with you."

The scarab became Ptolemy.

"It must have been a lovely dream," I said, grinning.

"More of a nightmare, actually. You were singing Kumbaya again. I hate that song."

'""""""""""

""""""""""

After our lovely, bumbling group had _finally _reached the pyramid, we were quickly shipped off to a ½ star hotel in Cairo. Kitty didn't make up until the following night, and only stayed awake for a few hours, which was a blessing. At the time she was scarier than Ammat, the Devourer of Souls. Kitty was the kind of person mother's would point at while saying, "See, Tommy? That's what will happen if you don't get enough sleep."

Now, it was noon, and Kitty was dragging the recently awakened Vivian and Roland away to the hotel's Hall of Deadly Food Poisoning, more commonly known as the cafeteria. Vivian had eaten some kind of sandwich full of suspicious-looking chicken and ancient tomatoes yesterday, and had spent two hours in the bathroom as a result. She still looked a little pale.

Only Kitty bothered ordering anything, and an hour later, after wolfing down the two dozen huge sandwiches, she was still standing. Remarkable at her age.

"So, when are we going to start looking for that hidden burial chamber?" Kitty asked, looking pointedly at Vivian.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because it's your brother we're trying to save."

A creepy, semi-evil look appeared in the girl's eyes. "Oh, no. It's Amadahy that's in trouble, not _him._"(2)

"How can you be sure?" Kitty asked.

"I just am. We can go tonight, can't we?"

"I suppose . . ."

"Wonderful." Vivian flashed Kitty a pearly white smile that was also quite creepy."In that case I would like to go shopping. I'm sure you would all agree that we need new clothes."

"Didn't we have luggage?" I asked.

"If we did, the mite-induced crash-landing ensured that it was scattered all over the desert," Roland spat, showing signs of switching to Nathaniel. One brief but meaningful glance from Kitty had him taking an interest in some nonexistent stain on his wrinkled shirt.

"Unfortunately," Kitty began, giving Vivian a firm stare, "we are broke. I'm sure our current clothes will last until we get back to London, -"

"Um, Kitty?" I broke in. "How are we going to get back without any money? Were you planning on making us walk? Because I'm not flying you all the way back, if that's what you're thinking."

"Don't worry. The tickets I bought are for a round trip." Kitty grinned evilly and patted my hand. (3) "But, if, for some unknown reason, we are unable to make it back by plane . . ."

"What could possibly happen?" I asked, nervous. Sure, our luck had been rather bad thus far, but what on this polluted earth could happen to make an airplane unavailable?

"Oh, who knows. Terrorists, lack of fuel, missing the flight . . ." Kitty stood up suddenly and started cackling like a crazy old hag. Even worse, she started dancing. She circled the table several times, making a clumsy leap every five or six steps. After the eighth orbit, she started singing something in Irish about bullfrogs in knickers.

"Oh, God," Vivian groaned. "It's the chicken."

"I don't care if men from Mars are growing mold farms on it, chicken doesn't cause something like this!" I argued, standing as well and gesturing vaguely in Kitty's direction. She was tugging on Roland's tie, dragging him along behind her. The poor man's face had turned an ugly blue-violet.

"This chicken does."

I was about to say more, but Kitty cannoning into me shut me up. "Hey, Barty, do wanna dance, too?" she asked, her eyes wide as they could be and a huge smile plastered on her face with no sign of disappearing any time soon.

I ignored her and said to Vivian, "Are you sure they don't put beer in the food or something?"

"Yes, I'm . . . Oh, my."

Oh, my. Indeed. Even Roland, gasping for breath like a fish, looked surprised. I must say, I never expected to be kissed by a drunk human, or any human at all for that matter.

Then Kitty jumped back, screamed "DEATH TO KUMBAYA!" at the top of her lungs, and passed out.

No one moved for a good five minutes.

Finally, Roland cleared his throat and asked, "Does this mean we won't be leaving tonight?"

"""""""""""

"""""""""''''

Another two days later, we were back at the pyramid. While the humans discussed possible locations of the "secret" tunnel that led to the "secret" burial chamber, I hid the car we (I) had stolen. They really didn't need to put a strain on their brains. I knew exactly where the tunnel was. I wasn't as sure about the chamber, but I'd find it. No problem.

"Bartimaeus," Kitty called. "Get over here right now!"

According to her, she didn't remember anything that had happened after she started cackling. That was just fine with me. If she ever found out about _It_, as I was calling the kiss, it would be too soon.

Grumbling, I became a cat and pranced up to the woman. "What?" I asked. I was quickly growing tired of this unnecessary harassment.

"You buried the car, right?"

"Yes. The next time it's seen, it'll be a rusty antique."

"Good. Then let's get going. I'm starting to miss London." Kitty picked the cat up and walked right past the guards into the pyramid. Roland and Vivian followed. The kid had a really thoughtful expression on her face.

"I'm starting to miss the Other Place," I muttered forlornly. Why couldn't I be summoned by a nice hermit? Someone who wouldn't drag me around London and to Egypt and into a maze of tunnels that were meant to confuse tomb robbers. A maze that had yet to be escaped.

The cat's ears perked up. Had I mentioned that part? No. Well, they would find out soon enough. I just hoped I could remember the right path before we ran into one of the hidden, spike-filled pits or an acid-spitting statue.

The cat yawned and fell asleep.

**1. Roland was sleeping outside in the hall with nothing but a thin wool blanket and the resident cockroaches for comfort.**

**2. The way she said 'him' made me think of someone casting a horrible curse that would not only bring eternal bad luck to the person being cursed, but also to that person's descendants, and to that person's neighbors, as well as their descendants. Also, it could curse the neighbors of all these descendants, as well as . . . well, you get the idea. I also started thinking of something else, but I won't tell you what it is until it's done cooking.**

**3. That, combined with the semi-bloodshot eyes and the fact that extending my role as a mode of transportation seemed to cheer her up, managed to send shivers down my spine.**


	24. Chapter 24 Kitty

Who else out there hates homework? Well, I do. I hope I get less homework in highschool, or I'll be in a coma before I'm sixteen because of sleep deprivation. Anyway. Read on.

-------

There were a few workers in the pyramid, but no one else. Just two humans, a cat, a silkworm, and the rare and highly explosive creature known as Kitty Jones who was still feeling the effects of the chicken. Her stomach screamed silently every time she took a step. Kitty did her best to ignore it.

"So, where are we going?" Roland asked.

"That way," Bartimaeus said with a lazy wave of his tail. "The tunnel right in front of you." A tunnel which happened to be guarded by two very mean-looking guys.

"Right." Kitty adjusted her shirt and walked forward, an equally mean expression on her face. The two guys watched her approach, then one of them leaned over to the other, whispered something, and they both stepped out of the way. The small procession passed by without any trouble and entered the tunnel.

As the light started to fade, the group became aware of a rather serious problem. They had no way to see where they were going.

"Not to worry,"Bartimaeus said, leaping out of Kitty's arms. The cat pranced off, waving its now glowing tail so all the poor, blind humans could follow. "Just watch the tail."

Kitty hurried after the djinni, letting her hand brush against the side of the tunnel so she would have some idea of where she was going. She didn't bother looking back to make sure Vivian and Roland were following. They were making plenty of noise stumbling along behind her, and she couldn't see behind her anyway. Bartimaeus wasn't very bright. His tail barely illuminated things a foot away.

Kitty didn't become aware of the fact that the path was sloping downwards until it became level. That's when Bartimaeus stopped suddenly. Kitty almost tread on him.

"Why did you stop?" she asked.

"Because there's a pit right in front of us. Not to deep, but it could hurt if you fell in wrong."

"There's a right way to fall into a pit?" Roland muttered, stopping behind Kitty.

"So . . . what do we do?" Vivian asked, coming to stand beside the djinni.

"_You_climb in and climb out the other side," Bartimaeus said cheerfully. "_I _jump over." A second later he did just that and stood on the other side, waving his tail. "Hurry. I'm starting to feel claustrophobic."

"Where is the—Ouch!" Kitty rubbed the back of her head as she stood up. The pit may not have been deep, but hitting her head on the cold stone still hurt.

The djinni sighed. "Humans." Although he was to far away to be seen with the limited light, Kitty could easily picture him shaking his head while grinning cheerfully.

Kitty stood up, trying to look dignified and walked forward. Her boot caught something and she went down. Bartimaeus chuckled.

"It's easier to crawl." Kitty felt Vivian brush against her as she crawled by on hands and knees. Roland refused to crawl, preferring to collect bruises as he walked across the pit. He wasn't in the best of moods by the time he reached the other side and climbed up with Bartimaeus's help. The djinni had now become Ptolemy. He was dressed in an Indiana Jones outfit, but with a glowing hat.

"Let us continue this quest," he said cheerfully, his shadowed face making him look rather scary. He tapped his foot . . . and the ground fell away.

******

******

"Damn you, Bartimaeus!" Kitty gasped when they hit the bottom. The djinni easily landed on his feet, but the humans landed either on their butts or backs. It was the latter for Kitty. For the second time in less than ten minutes, Kitty hit her head on the cold stone floor.

"You could have warned us," Roland snapped.

The djinni shrugged. "Shouldn't a great and powerful magician such as yourself at least be able to land on his feet?"

"Hey, Vivian!" Roland spun around to face the girl. "Would you please tell this djinni to treat us with some respect? He's your slave."

Vivian ignored him. Bartimaeus growled at him. Kitty smacked the back of his head. "Do be quiet," she sighed tiredly.

"I was just saying," Roland muttered.

"Okay!" Bartimaeus announced. "Now we just keep walking forward until we reach two doors and I'll try and remember which one we're suppose to go through."

"What happens if we go through the wrong one?" Kitty asked tiredly.

"I think we get scorpions dropped on us. I don't quite remember. It may have been rocks. Yeah, rocks. The scorpions would be dead by now." Ignoring the shocked looks on the humans' faces, the djinni continued forward.

_I wonder if I'll live through this, _Kitty thought mournfully as she followed the glowing hat.

*******

*******

After Bartimaeus ended up picking the wrong door and a load of dead, crumbling scorpions (turned out he was wrong about the rocks) was emptied onto Kitty and Co., they encountered a hallway lined with torches and statues of Egyptian gods that, according to the djinni, were suppose to spit acid if you stepped on certain parts of the floor. It was either the blue, the red, or the black tiles. Once again, the djinni wasn't sure which. "Hey, I haven't been here in thousands of years," was his excuse.

"How do we find out where it's okay to step?" Roland asked.

Bartimaeus considered a moment. Suddenly he snapped his fingers, smiled, and shoved Roland forward with a quick, "Keep your head down!"

It was a good thing he did, because the instant his feet touched the tiles, something whizzed by, just above his head, and sheared off most of the hair on top. Hopefully Roland wouldn't mind having a reverse mohawk. Rather then a strip of hair surrounded my a shaved area, it was a shaved strip surrounded by hair.

"Thought so!" Bartimaeus said cheerfully. "Now, don't move or it'll come back!"

"How long do I have to stand here?" the magician asked.

"As long as it takes me to figure out a way across." The djinni examined the tiles for a full five minutes. Kitty had a feeling he was taking so long on purpose. "Right," he finally said. "Remember this pattern: red, red, blue, black, black, black. Walk across following that pattern, and we will all get to keep out heads."

As Roland and Vivian began the crossing, watching the floor intently, Kitty shot the djinni a dirty look. "You knew the whole time, didn't you?"

Bartimaeus just smiled and became a crow. He shot off across the room, leaving Kitty there on her own. "The guy," she muttered, exasperated, and followed, carefully considering every tile before stepping on it. She only took a few seconds to consider why the torches were still lit after thousands of years.

*******

*******

Five traps and thirty or so bruises later, the group arrived at their destination: a lit room the size of a football field full of . . . a sarcophagus. That was it apart from a few statues a basket of fresh bread, that seemed strangely out of place.

"Is this it?" Roland asked, disappointed.

"Where's the amulet?" Vivian asked, a little more enthusiastic.

"Why hasn't the bread rotted?" Kitty asked, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

"Well, that's because," Bartimaeus began in a quiet, creepy voice. Everyone fell silent. "The pharaoh, even in death, has spirits who serve him."

All was silent for at least ten seconds, then something began to rise up from behind the sarcophagus. "Who's there?" it asked in Greek. "Who dares to set foot on this hallowed ground?"

Then the thing leaped forward.


End file.
